Starring:
Shikoge, Itami
Date: May 14, 2014
Summary:
The desert holds dragons, both real and only in name. In this case, the latter happens to be true as Shikoge and Itami seek out a common lizard. With the bribe of finding a real dragon, Itami drags the boy out into the desert in the hopes she may add this lizard to her collection for study.
"The Bearded Dragon"
Desert Outside of Sunagakure
The desert holds plenty of mysteries. There's rumors dragons live around here and they range in large numbers. People have reported seeing them in the sand only for them to disappear, having dug their way back beneath the dunes and to other places. Maybe they came from that living space that was unearthed not long ago? They should be able to put up a fight against those beetles that were said to be there, right? Maybe.
Hoping to find out more about these dragons, Itami has Shikoge come with her which she thinks may not have been the best decision in hindsight. She tries to keep things low profile, but doubts that'll last for too long. Well, guess she better try and manage the best way she can. "We've arrived in their territory. Just know they aren't exactly keen of staying in one place for too long around here…"
Following closely to Itami, Shikoge would idly scratch at his shirtless chest with one hand, while the other clasped tightly to the handle of his large blade while it dragged against the sand behind him. "Why are we going after dragons? You know, I've fought one before only to nearly escape with my life. Not to say I'm not excited to see more, take a few more down and maybe build some armor out of their hide, but why are we here again?" The boy would glance about the area, also curious why it was just the two of them on such a possibly dangerous mission, but in the end it only meant it would allow him a better chance to shine.
"…You'd do all that to a dragon?" Itami questioned to herself. She thinks she may have to be careful as she imagines that Shikoge could fulfill that promise at some point. She's halfway tempted to just pull from her own scales to help him, but she is almost certain he wants to hunt. "We're going after dragons because I need to study them further. It seems that it's just been pointed out that they produce their own venom, something that went unknown for sometime among their kind," she explains.
Shikoge shrugged, "Probably not. I mean, so long as a dragon doesn't mess with me, I won't mess with it and…" Shifting his weight and putting a foot forward, the boy raised the blade over his head and brought it quickly down into the sand, sending waves off it flying away from his sword. "What?" He'd raise the blade up to his shoulder, leaving it to rest as he walked along side Itami, "They can create their own venom? They must have got that from eating sand worms or something. You think we'll find any baby dragons? Then we could capture it, bring it back and make it our pet. Ride it around. Imagine, Suna shinobi riding around with dragons. THe world would belong to us!"
Itami shielded her eyes from any sand that may have come in her direction and sneezed when the finer dust slipped its way into her nose. "Yes, they can create their own venom…" she began. "And it may be from a diet of sandworms or it could just be something they always had," she remarked. "So, you're going to help me find one." Just as she finished speaking, the sand kicked up not too far away and a divot formed in the sand where it raised. She pointed over. "There. Did you see that?" She wondered. "Go over there and check that out."
Shikoge in fact did not see it, but with Itami pointing, the boy just ran in the direction knowing he'd find it eventually…Right? Right. And sure enough he did as up ahead he spotted a divot, last time he saw one of those a sand worm popped out. Might be one of them or maybe a dragon. Either way, Shikoge wasn't going to take any chances as he swung his blade around, stabbed it into the ground and pulled back on the handle to help propel him forward and into the air with hopes of landing right on top of what lies beneath. Possibly piercing right through their hide with his blade.
Itami winced at Shikoge's reaction to the divot she pointed out in the ground. At that rate, she's certain he would kill it, but…what if that was her? Not that he hasn't tried before. That sword was heavy enough to scratch up her scales and make her foot tender. "…Shikoge?" She began. "Umm, we don't need to strike that hard. We might anger it," she admitted…a lie. It might run away, but it wouldn't be angry. At least, she hasn't heard of them being particularly aggressive.
"You do want to meet with it and match it fairly, right? You should employ a number of techniques that help in drawing them out," she nodded. "Can you think of anything that can bring them to the surface other than hitting at sand?"
Shikoge landed atop the divot, sword first, but not hearing a blood curdling cry of death or feeling it move beneath his feet, the boy must have missed. "Odd." Glancing in Itami's direction for guidance, he'd nod in response before leaning against his blade for support and crossing his arms over his shirtless chest before pondering how to get the dragon to come out. Unfortunately there wasn't much that came to mind besides hitting the sand, "Well, if I can't get it to come out of the sand, then I'll go to it!" It sounded like a flawless plan as the boy dropped to his hands and knees and began to dig into the divot, "Here Dragon. Come here Dragon. I'm going to hug you dragon."
"…" Itami didn't have much to say to this moment. This boy confused her and she found it difficult to pinpoint him, if that was even possible to do. Well, it seems his efforts bore some fruit as the dragon they were searching for surfaced and shook sand from its body as it looked around at the activity going on. It took note of Shikoge since he was the one making the most ruckus out of everything. "There! That's it!" She pointed out the bearded dragon in the area. "Go get it!"
Hearing the call from Itami, Shikoge would glance up for the dragon only to spot a lizard. Standing up, "What, that thing?" Pointing at the 2 foot long scaled, future dinner of his. "I thought we were hunting dragons that could spit venom. That's just a gecko." Slouching his shoulders before shrugging, the boy held out a hand toward the lizard to show he was no threat, "Come here little dragon dragon. I won't hurt you. Taking a few steps in the creatures direction, slowly, but with long strides, "We must capture you and discover your secrets."
The dragon froze in place and began to flare out the skin around its head to give it a more menacing appearance to Shikoge. It opened its mouth and began to hiss defensively. Itami began to circle around with the intent of catching it should it decide it was going to flee. She knew it would at some point. "I doubt it'll do much to you, but it appears that you've made it wary. I would be too after you bashed the sand in with your sword like you were cutting logs for a living," she huffed. "Anyhow, continue approaching so that you can claim you've captured your first dragon."
Shikoge chuckled, "I'm not telling anyone about this. I'd get laughed at. Remember, I actually took on a full size dragon. This thing is more like a ferocious cat." The boys focus went back to the lizard as he made soft kissing noises, while still rubbing his fingers of one hand to try and lure it. "Come here. Come here or I'll throttle your tiny little neck. Yes, I will. Yes, I will." His voice sounding softer and his face scrunching up some while he continued to step slowly closer.
The bearded dragon studies Shikoge closely and though it can't decipher human tongue, it certainly seems as if it knows what he's saying. It does not like the idea of having its neck throttled and as the boy continues forward, the lizard gives one final hiss before it turns tail and darts off, neck flared and all to safety. It's at this point that Itami moves in to capture it in her hands where the lizard begins to tussle with her.
She begins to hiss and huff at it in a way to calm it down and keep it from trying to escape from her hands. It takes a bit of coaxing, but it finally settles in, though it keeps its eye on Shikoge just in case. "I think we've finished up here and yes, this is more like a cat. It's a smaller lizard, but if it had the mind to bite you, I'm not certain what would have happened. I'll need to study its venom to see how strong it is, but given no one has passed from the bite of one of these, I can probably say it's not particularly powerful."
The lizard would take off in response to Shikoge and without hesitation, the boy would give chase, but it seemed his efforts were unnecessary as Itami had already scooped it up. "If it bit me, I would have bit it right back." Glaring at the lizard, letting it know who's the boss before relaxing. "Well, mission successful then. Nice job, Itami. You get an 'A' for this mission." Smiling happily as he turned to walk back over toward his sword so he can take it back with them to the village.
