Starring:
Youkio, Nakaken
Date: October 24, 2012
Summary:
Nakaken is sent to guard a pair of workers delivering a chest to a small village and runs into a problem along the way.
"Steel vs. Claws"
Mountain River Trail - Land of Lightning
Today's job is something a little different for Youkio. Rather than being sent to take someone or a group out, the Dire Wolf-Fist has been sent to intercept and steal a chest that is being carried by a pair of workers from Kumogakure to a small village. After figuring out the planned path of travel, the mercenary found a spot where it would be fairly simple to intercept them and decided to just wait there. Thus, on the Mountain River Trail, he currently sits behind a large boulder, carving at a piece of wood with a kunai as he waits for his prey to arrive on the trail. Whether or not any backup was sent with them, he has yet to find out, but he'll just have to find out when they get here. That's risk of taking jobs like this. It could be boring, or it could be insane.
Nakaken moved with those workers, helm on and scroll with his blade close at hand. He was alert for any potential ambushes, as this chest was important. However it wasn't important enough for them to send someone higher than a genin. Of course, Nakaken was 'special' in how he was ranked. Either way, they were relatively quiet, Nakaken guarding was use to this sort of thing, considering he dealt often with pirates out on the shattered shore. Of course, the level of people here is vastly superior to the pirates from his home land.
As he catches the scent of more than one person entering the area, Youkio peers out from around the boulder. The two workers are no surprise, but the guy dressed in full armor is a bit unexpected. The mercenary lifts an eyebrow as he ducks back behind the boulder, pondering a strategy as he begins to gather some ki in preparation for a fight. It's been a long time since he fought someone dressed in armor like that, as the fighters around the Great Five Nations tend to all be shinobi who dress much lighter. Still, the Alpha Wolf personality and all, backing down is not in his nature. This should be fun.
The three walked past that boulder at that same pace. While the guard, Nakaken, was alert, he didn't seem to find anything around that would cause alarm. Then again, he was a samurai, not really a shinobi. To him, the world was fairly straight forward and as such, he would simply be ready for what happen when it happened.
As the walk, Youkio closes his eyes for a moment. Just as they pass, his eyes pop open. Showing a great amount of agility in spite of his muscular figure, the mercenary springs out from behind the boulder, leaving an after-image of white ki that makes it hard to see exactly where he is as he drives a foot down toward the back of Nakaken's head, intending to send him staggering forward so he can attempt a quick grab at the chest and perhaps steal it easily. Of course, life doesn't TEND to be that simple, but one never knows.
Hit from behind, Nakaken had no chance at all of trying to avoid that shot. Sent skidding, the mercenary started to wrestle the two carriers. Cursing silently, Nakaken focused chakra into that scroll that would be snapped out towards Youkio. That blade summoned in a *POOF* of smoke, it would attempt to hit Youkio and slam into the ground. Nakaken was right behind it, drawing it free of the ground with a massive surge of dirt towards Youkio while he swung at the dire wolf fist user, attempting to put distance between the mercenary and the workers.
As the blade flies at him, Youkio releases the chest and takes a quick step back out of the way of it. However, he doesn't quite move fast enough to get out of the way of the next strike and ends up with a gash on the back of his shoulder. It's not just real bad, though, and he only turns toward the man, a wicked smirk crossing his lips. "Alright. I was worried this job was going to be way too boring," the mercenary says with a chuckle as he leaps up, attempting to drive his knee under the helmet at the Genin's chin. Following up quickly, he pushes ki through his fist as he uses his momentum to spin into a strike directly at the side of his face, intending to leave a nice dent in the helmet with a thunderous impact.
Weapon flipped about expertly, the 15' blade danced like a feather in Nakaken's hands as it would get planted between both knee and fist, stopping them short. Nakaken would chuckle lightly at the words. "Hai, I felt the same way." Once more that blade was rolled as Nakaken would take a step back and with a sudden surge forward, he'd swing it much like a bat, aiming to lift and send Youkio flying. Nakaken would move forward with that shot, attempting to catch Youkio in the air and unable to stop that follow up massive blow that would leverage the length of the blade to slice Youkio and send him back to the ground.
The blocking of his strikes doesn't seem to bother Youkio, in fact seeming to make this more exciting. He's not exactly challeneged greatly enough that he's going to pull out his transformation just yet, as he is having some fun here. Off pure animal instinct, he moves in a blink, leaving an afterimage again as he flips over the swing of the blade to drive a foot down at the back of Nakaken's head again. Direct attacks may not be his best suit, but Youkio's hard to beat when a fight gets into a pinch and instinctual brawling. As soon as he lands on the ground, the mercenary leaps at the Genin's back, driving a fist directly at his kidneys and then spinning into a powerful roundhouse at the back of his head.
That blade moved again, once behind his back, the wide flat part stopped the attack coming in, for him to duck to the side from that second hit. A backhand stroke from the blade was snapped across to rip into Youkio's chest, while Nakaken stepped in to follow it with another slash. He was putting all that force he could into the strikes, trying to push that guy away from him. This was quickly proving to be david and goliath here and the grim reality was that Nakaken was goliath.
As the blade comes at him again, Youkio makes a quick backward duck and then a spinning sidestep. Using that momentum, he leaps to drive his knee up at the man's chin again, following up as he did before with a strike directly at the side of his head. While Youkio does have a little of an edge here, he is enjoying the fight being as even as it is currently, so he's going to get it a bit before he really tries to just knock this guy out.
Nakaken would move, once more deflecting that strike at his jaw, he'd step to the side, that pop to the helm causing his head to ring but it did deaden some of the damage coming in. Gritting his teeth, he'd retaliate with that massive upward swing himself, trying to push the close combat fighter way so that he could knock him out of the air again. Working on trying to put distance between them, he'd bark at the workers who were gawking at the fight. "Run!"
Not moving quite fast enough to dodge the sword this time, Youkio is slammed in the stomach and flies up a bit with his wind knocked out then slashed to fall to the ground. He skids a bit on the ground then peers up as the samurai tells the workers to run. Well, time to stop playing around… With a surge of ki, the mercenary's body actually begins to grow a bit as he leaps to his feet, his hair turning pure white and growing out while his hands turn more claw-like and muscle mass grows. He assumes a more werewolf-like stance before darting at the man and driving his knee up at his jaw fiercely then coming down with his both hands together at the top of his head in an attempt to smash his helmet in on top of his head and knock him out.
The man.. grew? A small half-step and he'd be caught off guard from the burst of power that his foe could put on. Clipped by that hit to the jaw, he'd stumble back, not able to avoid the strike again to his head which would drop him to a knee with a cough. Shaking his head, he'd surge forward again, throwing three triple strikes at the werewolf. This was quickly getting out of hand, but there was nothing more the samurai could do other than stall him and let the workers get further and further away. Maybe next time he should insist on a chuunin going with him on such a mission?
Goofing around too much in a fight before actually taking it to the opponent as well as putting too much energy into one area and not leaving enough for the other can lead to hazardous effects. Youkio steps out of the way of the first strike, but he seems to have run out of the physical energy to keep going and takes some rather heavy gashes from the next sets of strike and is send skidding back. "… Not bad," he says with a chuckle, laying there for now and waiting to see if the guy keeps attacking or what.
Panting softly himself, that blade was kept between him and the downed werewolf as he'd eye him for a moment. Reaching up with one hand to wipe at the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, he'd point the blade at the downed wolf. "Stay down, I catch up with them.. don't follow. I'd rather not kill someone if I don't have to.. but the way of the shinobi dictates that happens if necessary, hai?" Nakaken wasn't letting his guard down for a second. The were had him on the ropes.. and now.. nothing? He didn't buy it, but would feel it out the best he could.
"Yeah, alright. See ya next time," Youkio says, letting out a yawn as he reverts back to his normal state. "Don't expect me to take it easy out of the gate next time, though." With that, he closes his eyes, seeming to drift off to sleep. Seems he's going to sleep off the exhaustion right where he is.
Raising a brow, he'd watch for a moment more before a shrug was given. Backing up for a few steps, he'd finally summon his blade back into the scroll, turn and walk away. Well.. that was definitely an unusual situation that would be put into his report.
