Starring:
Date: September 5, 2014
Summary:
Michiko and Ryouji are sent to take care of some Silence members who have been hanging out at the Tenrai Plateau
"The Silence - Silence Goons on Tenrai Plateau"
Tenrai Plateau
According to reports, there were members of the Silence who had managed to escape to the plateau and are currently hiding there for further instructions from the head honchos. Assigned to the task of getting rid of these intruders, preferably via capture, but death is permitted, is Michiko and Ryouji. They have both proven their combat capabilities, so the pair is likely more than enough to handle the dregs of The Silence.
Michiko didn't bother getting a horse for the journey since the plateau is relatively close by. She stands waiting at the gate for Ryouji, giving him a small bow in greeting when he arrives. "Ready for this, Ryouji-kun?" she asks with a grin, taking off when he says the affirmative. Until they reach their destination, the entire journey is fairly quiet.
Ryouji has been hearing everything that the silence has been doing and is more than excited to take them down. He does a double check of his gear as he walks out of the compound and disappears in a whisp of speed. He soon reaches the gates and says, "Oh more than ready, Michiko-chan." He gives a bow in return and takes off side by side with Michiko. He's quiet as well, not saying much since the trip is so quick.
When the pair get to the plateau, it's obvious there have been people hanging around there. However, there's nothing but scraps of food and the ashes of old fires hanging around the area. A very observant shinobi might notice that there are tracks off to the side that leads to a hole in the ground… And that shinobi is Michiko, apparently. She points over to the tracks so Ryouji will see, whether or not he saw it first, and says in a quiet voice, "I think they're hiding in there… Maybe we should try to draw them out? They might be expecting us, so keep on your guard."
Ryouji fails to notice the tracks until Michiko points them out. He nods and rests his hands on the hilts of his swords while shaking out his hair. It grows out to mid back, ready to lash out if needed. "A good idea. I would suggest smoking them out, even dregs like these could be dangerous. Running blindly in would be a mistake." He makes a hand sign and his hair begins to move on its own. It rises up out of his scalp and falls to the ground in a clump. It begins to twist and fold into itself overlapping until it forms a sphere about the size of a basketball. He cuts the strands connecting his hair to the ball and retracts the rest to a normal size again. "Light it up and kick it down the hole, if you please." he says, moving off so he's not in direct line of sight of the hole but still close enough where he could attack.
Michiko nods and uses a small firebolt to light it up after kicking the ball towards the entrance. It rolls in a fiery blaze down the entrance, triggering a trap! It's a rather horrible trap, though, the only thing coming down onto the hair ball being an old axe. Michiko grins slightly at the sight. Well, looks like this might be easier than she figured… Or not. The trap was more like a signal, bringing about 3 of the Silence Goons out of hiding and sending throwing knives in the two shinobi's direction.
Michiko didn't expect, nor did she sense, the bandits until they revealed themselves. She ends up getting cut by one of the kunai that was thrown at her, but she's quick enough to send up a barrier of earth. "That wasn't pleasant…" she mutters before sending two firebolts at the guy who just attacked her.
Ryouji quickly tilts his head to dodge one kauni while twisting around the other that's thrown at him from another angle. "Well, let's hope this isn't all they can throw at us. I suppose we'll need to keep 'one' alive, right?" He rushes the one that threw the first kunai at him, leading with an elbow strike before following up with a low kick, hoping to slow him down by injuring the feet.
Michiko's bandit ends up badly burnt thanks to the firebolts, her fire really packing a punch. He looks to be in a lot of pain, rolling around on the ground and otherwise getting in people's ways. Maybe they even trip over him! Ryouji has his fair share of trouble with his own bandits on top of Michiko's still-burning one. One bandit aims to try and tackle the boy, thinking his size might be a good thing against the Reizei. The other bandit keeps back for now, unsure who to attack. Finally he decides to pick up a sword from that cave, using it to slash at Ryouji first, then the kunoichi.
Michiko sees the guy rolling around, and just jumps out of the way with a burst of fire at her feet. Some kind of rocket-like maneuver! She then sees the third bandit slash at her and simply blocks it with another barrier of earth. It seems these guys don't really know what they're doing… They're close enough that she can unleash a large flaming bullet at two of them.
Ryouji smiles, seeing the sword and says, "Oh, they brought a real weapon." But this guy was good and even with Ryouji's speed the slash gets through and cuts him deep. Ryouji grunts in surprise, but then gets flattened by the tackle sending him sprawling on the ground. The reizei gasps in shock and pain, but it's short lived as he pulls himself up, "Alright, I'm through playing. Michiko-chan, get down. I'm bringing the rain!" He gathers chakra to both palms and fires them out in massive amounts of spears lancing out in a wide arc in front of him. His hair fills the spaces the chakra lances miss, snaking this way and that, trying to find any angles the lances missed.
With all the attacks going on, it's easy to lose track of who's attacking who. As such, the bandits get quite a beating. That first guy who's been facing off initially against Michiko ends up passed out on the ground, the fight too much. He was just extremely unlucky to be hit by several lances of chakra and more than three of Michiko's fire attacks. Well, one down, two to go! The remaining Silence members look at their companion and just ignore him, camaraderie not a big part of their plan from the looks of it. They decide to split, one taking Ryouji and the other Michiko. The first attacks Michiko with more sword slashing, the swings wild and uncalculated. The second tries to keep his distance, throwing various rocks and kunai at Ryouji in an attempt to blind the boy.
Michiko blocks all the attacks with different barriers of earth, the girl somehow able to keep her seals up to speed with the wild slashing. She tries to get back a bit more, heading more towards the middle so she doesn't end up toppling over the nearby cliff that gives the plateau its name, sending three bolts of fire at her new opponent. They don't look as powerful as her previous ones, the Iwata having used quite a bit of chakra at this point.
Ryouji gets knocked in the head by the huge rock thrown at him. He's blinded for a second, but that's all these skilled rogue ninja needs. He feels the two kuani that burry themselves into his legs, trying to slow him down by killing his movement. He growls from the pain, pulling the kuani out and pushing his body into its first blur movement. He disappears and reappears in front of him, closing the gap in a second. Both cutter and lotus are in his hands, their blades flipped around as he jabs the hilts into the rogue's chin before spinning them and slashing downward in a dual arc of silver.
That guy who's been throwing the rocks finds himself on the edge of the cliff. Okay, so is he going to jump or will he say he isn't a coward and get sliced down by a mere kid… He thinks he has a better chance against the kid until he ends up paralyzed by a blow to the chin and then he's got a wide slash across his chest. Well, that's more than enough to take him down! He ends up crashing back and falling off the edge of the cliff. Meanwhile, Michiko has managed to take down her opponent, meaning they have two people captured.
"Nice one, Ryouji-kun. That was a good hit," she calls over to him, starting to bind the two men up with some rope she happens to have. "I'm glad there's only three of them… Did you need any healing up, then?" she wonders, shuffling around her pouch for some first aid supplies. This would include bandages and antiseptic, of course.
Ryouji looks over the edge of the cliff, watching that one tumble to the bottom and nods, giving his opponent a salute with cutter. He slides both weapons back into their sayas and walks over. "I only did what I could. You did really well for yourself too." he says, looking himself over as he slowly bleeds off his blur mode so he won't crash. "I could use some bandages for these cuts, yeah, thanks." He does have a nice gash on his head, a few cuts across his chest, and two nasty looking chunks taken out of his legs. Ok, he's bleeding in a lot of places.
Michiko nods and gives Ryouji a good amount of bandages and antiseptic on those wounds of his. It might sting, but it's nothing compared to what it was like receiving them. "Alright. Help me get these two back to the village and we can call it a job well done. And maybe we should take a side trip to the hospital as well?" she idly suggests, picking up one of the unconscious enemies and starting to head off.
Ryouji wraps up most of his wounds that he can reach, dripping antiseptic on those before to prevent infection of course. He hefts one of the guys to a shoulder. He's not quite as heavy as a sack of rocks so he can keep up fairly well. "You got it, Michiko-chan. A little rest could do us both some good. They hit really hard for rogues."
