Starring:
Date: January 23, 2017
Summary:
Goh and Mushi arrive at a secret facility…
"The Chronos Project - Part 3"
Unknown location
Through various means of tracking their enemies, Goh and Mushi had traversed a LOT of ground in their pursuit. They had pretty much run across the surface of half a country, as they had quickly departed Kirigakure and fled into the Land of Fire. So you can imagine it's with heavy breaths where they finally stop, the pair perched high in the branches of a solid oak tree, peering down into a clearing just yonder. This is where their enemies had fled to. In the middle of the clearing is… well, it can only be described as a wooden hatch. The thing is made of wood, and is so discreet amongst the dirt and grass that it is easily missed if not actually looked for.
"That's where we need to go." Goh speaks lowly, shoulders still rising and dipping with each heavy breath. "Okay hun. What's our game plan here?" He asks his lover, tilting his head to lock blue eyes onto the legendary healer. "We need to make sure we get all these prisoners out safe. I suggest we make sure to settle all fights first before trying to get them out. An all out offensive." He smirks. "What do you think?"
By this stage it was early morning. The sun was jusssst over the horizon to the east, and the birds were singing loudly to cheer on the day. The early morning wind sweeps through the trees, ruffling leaves and cooling off anyone in them.
Mushi has been questioning Goh throughout their journey about the Akuu. She wanted to know everything from their history to their abilities, anything that will help her prepare for their mission. It's to rescue prisoners, and possibly ones with Akuu among them. By the time they're standing in the tree looking at the hatch, Mushi is shaking her head. "That'll be hard to sneak into," she says. "There might be any number of traps." Or maybe surprise and luck will be on their side today.
She looks to Goh. "This time let's do something foolish. It may just work." She makes a seal to perform a Henge and…poof! She's the girl of the duo they had met, down to the clothes. "At best we can sneak in as those two nitwits. At worst maybe it'll prevent anyone from attacking on sight. How about a stroll?" Then she'd leap down and start openly for the exit.
"Eh?"
Goh blinks as Mushi so expertly transforms, before he snaps his fingers. "Ha! I like the way you think." Clasping hands together, he smirks. "Henge!" POOF! The pickler turns into the adult Miira, complete with orange mohawk and other various accessories that make him look like a gangster. "Remember how you acted towards me." Goh speaks to Mushi as they approach the hatch, their black cloaks with sky blue circles wavering in the wind. "You were the boss and had sass. I was the dumb brute." Ugh. "Next time, /I/ get to be the girl." Oy.
Approaching the hatch, the pickler lets Mushi take point. If she was the leader of this little duo, it needed to look that way after all. "This is so cool!" Goh excitedly whispers. "It's like we're being real ninja and sneaking into a secret base!" Yep. It had been a while for Goh. Ironically, performing actual /ninja/ duties was a rarity these days. Truthfully he didn't like the sneaking part as much, but it was refreshing nonetheless.
"After you. I'll back you up."
"You talk too much Number Two," Mushi sneers at Goh. She's certainly getting into the role, and not taking annnny enjoyment from it. Not at all. "If someone asks our story, tell them we're inspecting the security of this place. Making sure prisoners are secure. If someone gets a bit nosy, put them on the defensive, criticize their work. And if they get too nosy, thrash them. Let's go." She's still wearing her medical pack, but now she drapes her jacket over it to hide the symbol. She goes to the hatch, and cants her head to listen for anything on the other side. The pause is only for a moment. Then she says clearly, "We're coming in." And she grabs the hands and pulls the hatch doors open. If there were a space beyond that she'd walk in as if she owned the place. But quietly. If they don't happen to meet anyone to whom they have to present their paper thin story, all the better. "Your Akuu senses tingling?" she asides in a whisper to Goh.
The hatch opens to a ladder which goes completely vertical. With metal rungs stuck into the earth, the ladder leads down to a tunnel which stretches horizontally and in both directions. The tunnel, carved out of the earth with what must be some sort of technique, is lit by torches at two meter intervals. Just enough to provide enough light so that people don't stumble into the walls.
Holding his hand up to his forehead, Goh amuses Mushi's thought by pretending he can actually sense the Akuu with effort. "HMMMMM." He hums in thought. Then, he lowers his hands.
"Nope."
Glancing in both directions, the pickler purses his lips. "Let's go this way." The pickler points to the north direction. "It's slightly downhill. And I like walking downhill." Beginning to trudge that way, Goh looks about. "This tunnel is nearly a perfect square. And there are no supports or anything like that. I'm no builder, but that's some pretty cool engineering to make that work. And, you know. Not fall down."
Fortunately enough, they encounter no-one. It's eerily spooky, actually.
Now that they're deeper in to the complex, she has to nod at his comment about the tunnels. "Maybe it's the work of ninjutsu or engineering, or possibly both. It seems like that's what they're trying to do with their boss." Mushi nods to Goh, but she makes sure to take point. She stiffens a bit when they lose sight of the exit, but then goes forward again carefully.
A few minutes in she glances at Goh. "This is wrong," she says. A prison area with seemingly no security and no guards. She stops walking and turns to look at the surrounding tunnel. As if checking for some booby trap. "Very wrong." Despite her words, she'd resume walking in deeper after a few moments.
The hall is long. Verryyyy long. And near unchanging in its direction. Eventually however, noises can be heard in the far distance. The sounds of many men and women in heated discussion. Not quite arguing, but definitely debating. Mushi may even be able to pick out a few medical buzzwords thrown out here and there. Words far too complicated for one like Goh to understand. "We must be getting close to something."
Staying behind Mushi, the pickler will look over her shoulder as the duo emerge from the tunnel. It opens up into a very large circular room, easily twenty meters in diameter. Smack bang in the middle of the room is a large tube, filled with liquid. Various power cables (thick and heavy, in true Naruto-theme fashion), are connected to it, giving the liquid an occasional bubble and unnatural blue glow. Surrounding this vertical tube are at least a dozen men and women wearing white coats. They work over various tables and instruments, pouring things into test tubes and conducting other experiments. Connected to this rooms circular walls are wooden doors. In total there are twenty-three, each with a sign upon them. Each sign has a different clan scribed upon it. One reads 'Kaguya'. Another reads 'Inuzuka'. Another reads 'Uchiha'… The list goes on.
But the most unsettling thing? The truly unnerving thing? The ONE thing that Goh is /staring/ at? It's the mass of flesh that is floating in the middle of the previously mentioned tube of strange liquid. It looks like half a torso, with one arm attached and half a leg. The head is barely developed at all, and it has yet to develop any of its other limbs. "What the hell is that?" Goh whispers.
"HEY!" One of the scientists have noticed them! "What are you two doing here? This zone is forbidden for you Boshoku knuckle-heads. You know that!"
Mushi is staring at the mass of flesh in horror and disgust. At least, that's how it started. Now her face is a mask. She may as well be looking at a potted shrub on a window sill, for all the expression she has. When someone points out that they're not allowed to be in here, Mushi turns to regard the scientist. This would be a very good idea to apologize and turn around, but now she's ablaze with curiosity. She doesn't even seem offended by the whole 'knuckle head' comment, maybe because it's not actually directed at Mushi herself.
"I was given temporary access to see it," Mushi says gesturing to the body. "My partner came too. You should've been sent a message from the higher ups, but if you didn't get the message…" She inhales and sighs. "Look, we'll leave, but can you at least take a few minutes to explain your station? It's amazing."
The scientist looks at Mush carefully, sizing her up and down. He does the same to Goh, adjusting the spectacles that sit on the end of his nose. "You have /never/ been allowed access here." He repeats. "/Ever/. You drop the kids here and then leave. And that hasn't changed, nor will it change." The final compliment that Mushi makes however, seems to catch him off guard. Flattery was always a good thing! The scientist smiles.
"What you see is Chronos. This is why we had you take those kids from different clans." As he speaks, Goh scans the signs that ring the room. He cannot see any that say 'Akuu'. Had he been tricked? Was it all a ruse to get him here? His teeth grit at the thought.
"It's our seventh try." The scientist continues. "I'm told we're in the process of recruiting a healer that can help us bridge the gap to the finished product. Perhaps YOU could tell me how that's going? That's what we're paying you all for. Right?"
It's at this moment when a pair of footsteps echo up behind both Goh and Mushi. The pickler turns to see who these footsteps belong to…
As fate would have it, they belong to Moeru and the Inuzuka woman. That's right. The very beings that our heroes had turned INTO!
5tFor a moment there is stunned pause. Disbelief. The pair look at each other as if looking into a mirror.
"Uh oh." That's from Goh.
Mushi listens with rapt attention, taking in every word the scientist says, all with the utmost respect. Or at least that's how she appears. She's starting to ask about other things when their dopplegangers arrive. Or rather, the real ones arrive to sell them out. Mushi groans at first when they're revealed. But then she smiles to the woman. "What are you two doing here?" Mushi asks in a bossy imitation of the scientist. "This zone is forbidden for you Boshoku knuckle-heads."
All the time she's been speaking she's drifted over to the tube holding Chronos, and now she leans against the glass with one hand. And where her hand touches a seal appears. "Hey you guys," she says. "We were just about to leave. With the Akuu prisoners, that is. Pony them up, and we'll go without laying a finger on your science project here. Otherwise…" She leaves the rest unsaid.
"Akuu prisoners?!" At this stage the scientists have started to hit evacuation mode. They knew they had been duped. And infiltrated upon! The lead scientist is busy scrummaging around for some loose papers when Mushi makes her demand. "You idiot. There are no Akuu left!"
"Not quite, Doc." Moeru speaks. That being the REAL Moeru. "I reckon one walked right into your midst. Just like we planned." As Moeru smirks at his doppleganger, nine other beings with garbs similar to his emerge from his flanks. The remainder of the Boshoku organisation. All elven of them now stand there, feeding into the circular room in a tight formation.
Goh back-tracks to stand side by side with Mushi, shoulder rubbing against her own as his blue eyes watch the medical professionals begin to flee.
"Destroy the specimen." A new voice speaks to Mushi. A leader of sorts emerges from the pack of eleven Boshoku members. He has silver hair which is brushed back neatly. "It will be a failed attempt anyway. We can always try again. This time, with Akuu blood."
"Shit." Goh mutters, reverting back to his normal form with a POOF of white smoke. He glances around to all of the doors that probably hold all the current prisoners. As he stands there, his skin begins to shift and transform. He was entering Sage Mode.
"I'm going to kill every single one of you bastards." Goh breathes. Whether he was actually that confident of winning this fight or not, who knows. But they had little choice at this point.
If they were to survive, it would require some great teamwork between the two heroes!
Mushi chews on her lip as she glances around at the clan names, and then at the mass of flesh. "It won't work like that," she says. "Akuu wouldn't be the clan you wanted. It'd be…" Then she trails off, mentally slapping herself. How could she even entertain the thought of how to help them? She shakes her head in disgust. And she places a hand on Goh's arm. "I'm sorry Goh-kun. I know how much this meant to you." So it was a lie all along. They're playing a strange game if they want her help.
But she's also a dotonjutsuist, and she makes a long line of hand seals. The floor beneath them begins trembling. It goes from hard and flat to mushy and starts spinning around. There are numerous whirlpools that'd suck both scientists and shinobi down up to their necks before solidifying. It takes up the entire room, only sparing a few small spaces for Goh, Mushi, and strangely the specimen for now.
"It's alright." Goh replies softly to Mushi as she grasps his now scaly arm. The full effects of his Sage Mode can be seen, as his skin has mostly transformed into brown scales. Still part humanoid, but on the way to salamander. "I knew it was a long shot." Yet he had allowed himself to get his hopes up. Like some sort of naive kid who dreamt impossible dreams.
The ground shifts and changes all around them. The scientists are swallowed up, but the shinobi of the Boshoku organisation are a bit more skilful than that. In fact, only three of them are caught by the technique! They sink down into the ground, grunting loudly as he becomes stuck.
Noting the technique that Mushi was in the midst of performing, Goh had flown through a series of seals of his own. "Raiton: seitekina arashi!" As he finishes off the final sign, the atmosphere around the pair of heroes becomes supercharged with electricity. The little blue shocks of electricity are visible in the air, arcing about and striking those shinobi who had leapt into the air. It was the perfect tag-team teamwork technique. Mushi got them on the ground. And if they had jumped, as expected? Goh had them in the air.
The shocked shinobi fall to the ground, winded and drained of stamina from the attack. There are now eight of them, and they waste no time in forming up. "We need to keep this enclosed and local." Goh speaks to Mushi. "In this confined space, we have the advantage."
Mushi watches as Goh dispatches some of the encroaching enemy. As bad as odds are, she has to agree. It'd be worse in the open. That'd give them time to conceal themselves, to take their time, and of course to surround them with more room to maneuver. Now it's just a tightly packed melee, and Mushi's next move is to gather chakra with more hand seals. Pure chakra. It's like she's drawing on light that flashes out in a rippling wave, washing over everyone. It's inescapable, from floor to ceiling, and everywhere within her sight. Upon contact it'd paralyze anyone who failed to repel it, except for Goh. He'd just feel a slight tingling on his skin as it sweeps over him.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Goh brings forth Haruhi, a seven foot long female salamander that Mushi has yet to meet. At six feet high, she is near a complete black. Flawless scales shine softly against the soft lamps of the underground dungeon. Bright green eyes stare out of a face that just looks mean.
She already seems to know what the plan is, as she LEAPS forward at a great pace to try and rip the enemy shinobi out with her jagged teeth!
Goh attacks with her, using his strong taijutsu skills to engage the enemy in battle. Again, this is designed to act as a teamwork like technique. If they're busy repelling Mushi's attack? Then they get pounded on by Goh and his sala. If they opt to defend against Goh? Then they are exposed to the wave of energy that ripples about from Mushi's jutsu.
Eventually the strategy works and wears the enemy shinobi down. The organisation is left paralyzed, unable to resist such a strong technique. Or better yet, a strong combination.
Haruhi prowls about on all four of her strong legs, growling between her teeth. Ready to eat anyone that got free. :# She had already taken some good bites out of some of the shinobi. They leak blood from their nonlethal wounds, unable to tend to them given their current stunned state.
"Oh my goodness," Mushi says, gaping as one of Goh's more lethal summons literally devours the enemy. She sometimes forgets that not every one of them is happy go lucky. She stares for a moment too long, at this strange introduction to the salamander. The pause was a mistake. A kunai aimed between her eyes is narrowly avoided, so it slices her cheek instead. She can't be distracted now. And apparently any orders to bring her in alive have collapsed, in this struggle.
Her next attack makes columns of earth rise from the ground. They're formless stumps at first, but then turn into multiple copies of Mushi. Many. And suddenly there's a horde of Mushis pummeling the remaining opposition, pinning down others, and making it impossible for them to regroup as their side goes from three to thirteen.
The fight is everything you expect a high level ninja fight to be. There are extremely unique techniques on display that you will struggle to see in many other places. Shuriken and kunai knives are thrown at great speeds. So fast that they cannot be seen via normal eyes! But they are still encountered. The taijutsu moves are tight and crisp. The ninjutsu and genjutsu strategically places, as each shinobi tries to capture his or her enemy off guard.
Eventually, bodies start to slow down. Whether it be through lack of stamina, chakra or both, the techniques begin to become more sparse and movements become more ragged. And fortunately, for Goh and Mushi, it is their side that is maintaining the edge. Through some amazing teamwork and the help of clones, along with a rampaging Haruhi that was eating peoples limbs.
While Mushi had reservations about killing people, Goh did not. To him, these were the worst kinds of humans imaginable. Torturing kids and harvesting their cells? He wasn't joking when he said he was going to kill them, demonstrated as he runs through five of them in one hit. Through advanced chakra shaping and manipulation, he had forged a lightning spear that stretched out from the palm of his hand and skewered through the hearts of his foes.
Haruhi meanwhile had cornered some more against the circular wall. She growls once, before opening her mouth to expel golden flames upon them. Roasting them to a state beyond crispy.
That meant that only three were left alive. Those who had become stuck in Mushi's original earth technique. They were still there, unable to move. Captured.
"You bastards!" One of the three fires back to Mushi, enraged at the fact that they had been toppled.
"That IS the most successful specimen." It's not any of the shinobi that have answered Mushi's question. Nope. It's the lead scientist that the healer was talking to before. As Goh and Haruhi speak to each other on the far side of the room, the scientist has taken this as an opportunity to speak with Mushi one on one. "You're her, aren't you? Mushi. The Legendary Healer. One of the Two. The Bird." The scientists head faces the healer directly, his body stuck in the ground. "This is the only sample to develop this far. You… you're /curious/ about this, aren't you?" The scientist smiles. "You want to help. And develop this. Yes, I was right to call for you. It's not too late. Free me, and we can give life to this creature."
Goh was still off yonder. Though a POOF of smoke had occurred as Haruhi returned to the salamander caves, the pickler was wandering around the circular wall, opening the doors to inspect the prisoners therein. His sage mode had faded at least. So he hopefully wouldn't freak any out.
Mushi looks thoughtfully to the scientist. "Oh I'm curious alright," she says. "But I'd never have gotten involved in this, if it weren't for my companion. It's vile and unspeakable." She glances at the floating mass of flesh. "Shinobi have always done barbaric things to try and recreate bloodline limits. I have no interest and no ability in helping." Then she goes over to the tube to look at the flesh. She could always store it away. It may be valuable evidence. But something is just emanating from it, this horrible feeling that it's wrong.
"I always thought every organism deserves a chance at life," she says. Then she takes a few steps back, and makes a couple hand seals. The symbol she had stamped on the tube begins to glow, and a few moments later it flashes. Everything within the tube is vaporized. She sighs. She could've used that as evidence, but there's too much evil that went into that thing to allow it to carry on. "And now you," she says coldly. "Unless you have something /useful/ to tell me."
The flash of light that Mushi creates with her seal catches the eye of Goh as he wanders out of one of the prisons, a glance given to her before he ducks back into the next chamber. There were a number of these, so he had a few people to visit! A firm nod of approval is given from the pickler though, as if to ease any doubts Mushi may have had. Or at the very least show he was in agreeance with her decision to vaporise it.
The scientist however, screams in anguish as Mushi destroys the specimen. "NOOO! Do you have ANY idea what you've DONE?!" He squirms in the mud hole, trying to writhe free. It results to nothing, which infuriates him even further. "YEARS of planning. RUINED! I'LL KILL YOU! RARGHHH!" More squirming.
The three ninja remain oddly calm, however. But then, with a crackle of movement, they appear to break free! Through sheer force of chakra and probably some technique they bust loose of their earthly bounds. They don't stay and fight though. Nope! They just flee. In the blink of an eye they're gone, darting back down the corridor.
Goh spots them, but little care is given. He has finally finished doing his rounds, coming up behind the healer as the head scientist is still wailing in despair. "All of the hostages and prisoners are taken care of, hun. The salamander are transporting them back to where their home Villages. They were all physically fine, if not exhausted and with laceration wounds from skin samples. None mortally wounded."
With a heaving sigh, he rubs his head. His own chakra levels were low after such a fight. "What should we do with the scientists stuck here?"
"I have no idea what I just destroyed," Mushi says. "Something ugly. But if you mention how I ruined years of your work again, I might just kill you. You've stolen the lives of so many innocent people. What of them?" She shakes her head. "Science is for helping lives, not taking them."
When Goh asks what should be done with the man, she rubs her chin. Then, she smiles. "We'll hand them over to the Land of Snow prison. Discreetly. Where they'll never be able to hurt anyone again." They had saved their bacon, after all. It'd be easy to get their cooperation in this.
She then turns to the survivors. "Or I could let you go, as I mentioned but I think you'd just end up running into a salamander's stomach, ne." She hadn't made any promises about Goh, and she tells him as much.
Goh winces at the very thought of such a sentence. The look on the faces of these scientists suggests they hadn't even heard of such a place. And really, why would they have? It's a classified location designed to house S-Rank shinobi criminals. "Hope you guys brought your thermals." He comments wryly. It's met with just more perplexed looks.
He shakes his head at the idea of letting them go into a salamander's mouth. "Na. Keeping them alive would be good. They obviously don't feel like talking now, but after a few months on ice that might change. We need to find out how they did this. And how they managed to fool every single clan and every Village into taking their clansmen without them even knowing." A look of pity is given to the scientists. Some of them, like the leader, look mad. Others are legitimately crying. They obviously didn't want to be locked up.
"I need to get out of here." Goh comments with suddenness. He had thought this would be a reunion for the Akuu clan, after all. Now that it's not, just standing here makes him feel angry and lost. "We can call for the prison guards to come pick up the scientists from outside. Ready to go?"
"Bear with it several minutes," Mushi says, and she spends the rest of the time seeing to the prisoners. Making sure the preparations for the clean up are complete. Then she'd take his arm. "Let's go," she says. Her hand is tight around his arm, so tight it's as if she's holding onto him as if he were an anchor. Or as if she were an anchor. Arm in arm they'd go out of that hellhole, and Mushi at least would never look back. On their way out she says, "I'm so hungry I'd even eat some pickled vegetables." A tiny smile.
Through various means of tracking their enemies, Goh and Mushi had traversed a LOT of ground in their pursuit. They had pretty much run across the surface of half a country, as they had quickly departed Kirigakure and fled into the Land of Fire. So you can imagine it's with heavy breaths where they finally stop, the pair perched high in the branches of a solid oak tree, peering down into a clearing just yonder. This is where their enemies had fled to. In the middle of the clearing is… well, it can only be described as a wooden hatch. The thing is made of wood, and is so discreet amongst the dirt and grass that it is easily missed if not actually looked for.
"That's where we need to go." Goh speaks lowly, shoulders still rising and dipping with each heavy breath. "Okay hun. What's our game plan here?" He asks his lover, tilting his head to lock blue eyes onto the legendary healer. "We need to make sure we get all these prisoners out safe. I suggest we make sure to settle all fights first before trying to get them out. An all out offensive." He smirks. "What do you think?"
By this stage it was early morning. The sun was jusssst over the horizon to the east, and the birds were singing loudly to cheer on the day. The early morning wind sweeps through the trees, ruffling leaves and cooling off anyone in them.
Mushi has been questioning Goh throughout their journey about the Akuu. She wanted to know everything from their history to their abilities, anything that will help her prepare for their mission. It's to rescue prisoners, and possibly ones with Akuu among them. By the time they're standing in the tree looking at the hatch, Mushi is shaking her head. "That'll be hard to sneak into," she says. "There might be any number of traps." Or maybe surprise and luck will be on their side today.
She looks to Goh. "This time let's do something foolish. It may just work." She makes a seal to perform a Henge and…poof! She's the girl of the duo they had met, down to the clothes. "At best we can sneak in as those two nitwits. At worst maybe it'll prevent anyone from attacking on sight. How about a stroll?" Then she'd leap down and start openly for the exit.
"Eh?"
Goh blinks as Mushi so expertly transforms, before he snaps his fingers. "Ha! I like the way you think." Clasping hands together, he smirks. "Henge!" POOF! The pickler turns into the adult Miira, complete with orange mohawk and other various accessories that make him look like a gangster. "Remember how you acted towards me." Goh speaks to Mushi as they approach the hatch, their black cloaks with sky blue circles wavering in the wind. "You were the boss and had sass. I was the dumb brute." Ugh. "Next time, /I/ get to be the girl." Oy.
Approaching the hatch, the pickler lets Mushi take point. If she was the leader of this little duo, it needed to look that way after all. "This is so cool!" Goh excitedly whispers. "It's like we're being real ninja and sneaking into a secret base!" Yep. It had been a while for Goh. Ironically, performing actual /ninja/ duties was a rarity these days. Truthfully he didn't like the sneaking part as much, but it was refreshing nonetheless.
"After you. I'll back you up."
"You talk too much Number Two," Mushi sneers at Goh. She's certainly getting into the role, and not taking annnny enjoyment from it. Not at all. "If someone asks our story, tell them we're inspecting the security of this place. Making sure prisoners are secure. If someone gets a bit nosy, put them on the defensive, criticize their work. And if they get too nosy, thrash them. Let's go." She's still wearing her medical pack, but now she drapes her jacket over it to hide the symbol. She goes to the hatch, and cants her head to listen for anything on the other side. The pause is only for a moment. Then she says clearly, "We're coming in." And she grabs the hands and pulls the hatch doors open. If there were a space beyond that she'd walk in as if she owned the place. But quietly. If they don't happen to meet anyone to whom they have to present their paper thin story, all the better. "Your Akuu senses tingling?" she asides in a whisper to Goh.
The hatch opens to a ladder which goes completely vertical. With metal rungs stuck into the earth, the ladder leads down to a tunnel which stretches horizontally and in both directions. The tunnel, carved out of the earth with what must be some sort of technique, is lit by torches at two meter intervals. Just enough to provide enough light so that people don't stumble into the walls.
Holding his hand up to his forehead, Goh amuses Mushi's thought by pretending he can actually sense the Akuu with effort. "HMMMMM." He hums in thought. Then, he lowers his hands.
"Nope."
Glancing in both directions, the pickler purses his lips. "Let's go this way." The pickler points to the north direction. "It's slightly downhill. And I like walking downhill." Beginning to trudge that way, Goh looks about. "This tunnel is nearly a perfect square. And there are no supports or anything like that. I'm no builder, but that's some pretty cool engineering to make that work. And, you know. Not fall down."
Fortunately enough, they encounter no-one. It's eerily spooky, actually.
Now that they're deeper in to the complex, she has to nod at his comment about the tunnels. "Maybe it's the work of ninjutsu or engineering, or possibly both. It seems like that's what they're trying to do with their boss." Mushi nods to Goh, but she makes sure to take point. She stiffens a bit when they lose sight of the exit, but then goes forward again carefully.
A few minutes in she glances at Goh. "This is wrong," she says. A prison area with seemingly no security and no guards. She stops walking and turns to look at the surrounding tunnel. As if checking for some booby trap. "Very wrong." Despite her words, she'd resume walking in deeper after a few moments.
The hall is long. Verryyyy long. And near unchanging in its direction. Eventually however, noises can be heard in the far distance. The sounds of many men and women in heated discussion. Not quite arguing, but definitely debating. Mushi may even be able to pick out a few medical buzzwords thrown out here and there. Words far too complicated for one like Goh to understand. "We must be getting close to something."
Staying behind Mushi, the pickler will look over her shoulder as the duo emerge from the tunnel. It opens up into a very large circular room, easily twenty meters in diameter. Smack bang in the middle of the room is a large tube, filled with liquid. Various power cables (thick and heavy, in true Naruto-theme fashion), are connected to it, giving the liquid an occasional bubble and unnatural blue glow. Surrounding this vertical tube are at least a dozen men and women wearing white coats. They work over various tables and instruments, pouring things into test tubes and conducting other experiments. Connected to this rooms circular walls are wooden doors. In total there are twenty-three, each with a sign upon them. Each sign has a different clan scribed upon it. One reads 'Kaguya'. Another reads 'Inuzuka'. Another reads 'Uchiha'… The list goes on.
But the most unsettling thing? The truly unnerving thing? The ONE thing that Goh is /staring/ at? It's the mass of flesh that is floating in the middle of the previously mentioned tube of strange liquid. It looks like half a torso, with one arm attached and half a leg. The head is barely developed at all, and it has yet to develop any of its other limbs. "What the **** is that?" Goh whispers.
"HEY!" One of the scientists have noticed them! "What are you two doing here? This zone is forbidden for you Boshoku knuckle-heads. You know that!"
Mushi is staring at the mass of flesh in horror and disgust. At least, that's how it started. Now her face is a mask. She may as well be looking at a potted shrub on a window sill, for all the expression she has. When someone points out that they're not allowed to be in here, Mushi turns to regard the scientist. This would be a very good idea to apologize and turn around, but now she's ablaze with curiosity. She doesn't even seem offended by the whole 'knuckle head' comment, maybe because it's not actually directed at Mushi herself.
"I was given temporary access to see it," Mushi says gesturing to the body. "My partner came too. You should've been sent a message from the higher ups, but if you didn't get the message…" She inhales and sighs. "Look, we'll leave, but can you at least take a few minutes to explain your station? It's amazing."
The scientist looks at Mush carefully, sizing her up and down. He does the same to Goh, adjusting the spectacles that sit on the end of his nose. "You have /never/ been allowed access here." He repeats. "/Ever/. You drop the kids here and then leave. And that hasn't changed, nor will it change." The final compliment that Mushi makes however, seems to catch him off guard. Flattery was always a good thing! The scientist smiles.
"What you see is Chronos. This is why we had you take those kids from different clans." As he speaks, Goh scans the signs that ring the room. He cannot see any that say 'Akuu'. Had he been tricked? Was it all a ruse to get him here? His teeth grit at the thought.
"It's our seventh try." The scientist continues. "I'm told we're in the process of recruiting a healer that can help us bridge the gap to the finished product. Perhaps YOU could tell me how that's going? That's what we're paying you all for. Right?"
It's at this moment when a pair of footsteps echo up behind both Goh and Mushi. The pickler turns to see who these footsteps belong to…
As fate would have it, they belong to Moeru and the Inuzuka woman. That's right. The very beings that our heroes had turned INTO!
5tFor a moment there is stunned pause. Disbelief. The pair look at each other as if looking into a mirror.
"Uh oh." That's from Goh.
Mushi listens with rapt attention, taking in every word the scientist says, all with the utmost respect. Or at least that's how she appears. She's starting to ask about other things when their dopplegangers arrive. Or rather, the real ones arrive to sell them out. Mushi groans at first when they're revealed. But then she smiles to the woman. "What are you two doing here?" Mushi asks in a bossy imitation of the scientist. "This zone is forbidden for you Boshoku knuckle-heads."
All the time she's been speaking she's drifted over to the tube holding Chronos, and now she leans against the glass with one hand. And where her hand touches a seal appears. "Hey you guys," she says. "We were just about to leave. With the Akuu prisoners, that is. Pony them up, and we'll go without laying a finger on your science project here. Otherwise…" She leaves the rest unsaid.
"Akuu prisoners?!" At this stage the scientists have started to hit evacuation mode. They knew they had been duped. And infiltrated upon! The lead scientist is busy scrummaging around for some loose papers when Mushi makes her demand. "You idiot. There are no Akuu left!"
"Not quite, Doc." Moeru speaks. That being the REAL Moeru. "I reckon one walked right into your midst. Just like we planned." As Moeru smirks at his doppleganger, nine other beings with garbs similar to his emerge from his flanks. The remainder of the Boshoku organisation. All elven of them now stand there, feeding into the circular room in a tight formation.
Goh back-tracks to stand side by side with Mushi, shoulder rubbing against her own as his blue eyes watch the medical professionals begin to flee.
"Destroy the specimen." A new voice speaks to Mushi. A leader of sorts emerges from the pack of eleven Boshoku members. He has silver hair which is brushed back neatly. "It will be a failed attempt anyway. We can always try again. This time, with Akuu blood."
"****." Goh mutters, reverting back to his normal form with a POOF of white smoke. He glances around to all of the doors that probably hold all the current prisoners. As he stands there, his skin begins to shift and transform. He was entering Sage Mode.
"I'm going to kill every single one of you ****." Goh breathes. Whether he was actually that confident of winning this fight or not, who knows. But they had little choice at this point.
If they were to survive, it would require some great teamwork between the two heroes!
Mushi chews on her lip as she glances around at the clan names, and then at the mass of flesh. "It won't work like that," she says. "Akuu wouldn't be the clan you wanted. It'd be…" Then she trails off, mentally slapping herself. How could she even entertain the thought of how to help them? She shakes her head in disgust. And she places a hand on Goh's arm. "I'm sorry Goh-kun. I know how much this meant to you." So it was a lie all along. They're playing a strange game if they want her help.
But she's also a dotonjutsuist, and she makes a long line of hand seals. The floor beneath them begins trembling. It goes from hard and flat to mushy and starts spinning around. There are numerous whirlpools that'd suck both scientists and shinobi down up to their necks before solidifying. It takes up the entire room, only sparing a few small spaces for Goh, Mushi, and strangely the specimen for now.
"It's alright." Goh replies softly to Mushi as she grasps his now scaly arm. The full effects of his Sage Mode can be seen, as his skin has mostly transformed into brown scales. Still part humanoid, but on the way to salamander. "I knew it was a long shot." Yet he had allowed himself to get his hopes up. Like some sort of naive kid who dreamt impossible dreams.
The ground shifts and changes all around them. The scientists are swallowed up, but the shinobi of the Boshoku organisation are a bit more skilful than that. In fact, only three of them are caught by the technique! They sink down into the ground, grunting loudly as he becomes stuck.
Noting the technique that Mushi was in the midst of performing, Goh had flown through a series of seals of his own. "Raiton: seitekina arashi!" As he finishes off the final sign, the atmosphere around the pair of heroes becomes supercharged with electricity. The little blue shocks of electricity are visible in the air, arcing about and striking those shinobi who had leapt into the air. It was the perfect tag-team teamwork technique. Mushi got them on the ground. And if they had jumped, as expected? Goh had them in the air.
The shocked shinobi fall to the ground, winded and drained of stamina from the attack. There are now eight of them, and they waste no time in forming up. "We need to keep this enclosed and local." Goh speaks to Mushi. "In this confined space, we have the advantage."
Mushi watches as Goh dispatches some of the encroaching enemy. As bad as odds are, she has to agree. It'd be worse in the open. That'd give them time to conceal themselves, to take their time, and of course to surround them with more room to maneuver. Now it's just a tightly packed melee, and Mushi's next move is to gather chakra with more hand seals. Pure chakra. It's like she's drawing on light that flashes out in a rippling wave, washing over everyone. It's inescapable, from floor to ceiling, and everywhere within her sight. Upon contact it'd paralyze anyone who failed to repel it, except for Goh. He'd just feel a slight tingling on his skin as it sweeps over him.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Goh brings forth Haruhi, a seven foot long female salamander that Mushi has yet to meet. At six feet high, she is near a complete black. Flawless scales shine softly against the soft lamps of the underground dungeon. Bright green eyes stare out of a face that just looks mean.
She already seems to know what the plan is, as she LEAPS forward at a great pace to try and rip the enemy shinobi out with her jagged teeth!
Goh attacks with her, using his strong taijutsu skills to engage the enemy in battle. Again, this is designed to act as a teamwork like technique. If they're busy repelling Mushi's attack? Then they get pounded on by Goh and his sala. If they opt to defend against Goh? Then they are exposed to the wave of energy that ripples about from Mushi's jutsu.
Eventually the strategy works and wears the enemy shinobi down. The organisation is left paralyzed, unable to resist such a strong technique. Or better yet, a strong combination.
Haruhi prowls about on all four of her strong legs, growling between her teeth. Ready to eat anyone that got free. :# She had already taken some good bites out of some of the shinobi. They leak blood from their nonlethal wounds, unable to tend to them given their current stunned state.
"Oh my goodness," Mushi says, gaping as one of Goh's more lethal summons literally devours the enemy. She sometimes forgets that not every one of them is happy go lucky. She stares for a moment too long, at this strange introduction to the salamander. The pause was a mistake. A kunai aimed between her eyes is narrowly avoided, so it slices her cheek instead. She can't be distracted now. And apparently any orders to bring her in alive have collapsed, in this struggle.
Her next attack makes columns of earth rise from the ground. They're formless stumps at first, but then turn into multiple copies of Mushi. Many. And suddenly there's a horde of Mushis pummeling the remaining opposition, pinning down others, and making it impossible for them to regroup as their side goes from three to thirteen.
The fight is everything you expect a high level ninja fight to be. There are extremely unique techniques on display that you will struggle to see in many other places. Shuriken and kunai knives are thrown at great speeds. So fast that they cannot be seen via normal eyes! But they are still encountered. The taijutsu moves are tight and crisp. The ninjutsu and genjutsu strategically places, as each shinobi tries to capture his or her enemy off guard.
Eventually, bodies start to slow down. Whether it be through lack of stamina, chakra or both, the techniques begin to become more sparse and movements become more ragged. And fortunately, for Goh and Mushi, it is their side that is maintaining the edge. Through some amazing teamwork and the help of clones, along with a rampaging Haruhi that was eating peoples limbs.
While Mushi had reservations about killing people, Goh did not. To him, these were the worst kinds of humans imaginable. Torturing kids and harvesting their cells? He wasn't joking when he said he was going to kill them, demonstrated as he runs through five of them in one hit. Through advanced chakra shaping and manipulation, he had forged a lightning spear that stretched out from the palm of his hand and skewered through the hearts of his foes.
Haruhi meanwhile had cornered some more against the circular wall. She growls once, before opening her mouth to expel golden flames upon them. Roasting them to a state beyond crispy.
That meant that only three were left alive. Those who had become stuck in Mushi's original earth technique. They were still there, unable to move. Captured.
"You ****!" One of the three fires back to Mushi, enraged at the fact that they had been toppled.
"That IS the most successful specimen." It's not any of the shinobi that have answered Mushi's question. Nope. It's the lead scientist that the healer was talking to before. As Goh and Haruhi speak to each other on the far side of the room, the scientist has taken this as an opportunity to speak with Mushi one on one. "You're her, aren't you? Mushi. The Legendary Healer. One of the Two. The Bird." The scientists head faces the healer directly, his body stuck in the ground. "This is the only sample to develop this far. You… you're /curious/ about this, aren't you?" The scientist smiles. "You want to help. And develop this. Yes, I was right to call for you. It's not too late. Free me, and we can give life to this creature."
Goh was still off yonder. Though a POOF of smoke had occurred as Haruhi returned to the salamander caves, the pickler was wandering around the circular wall, opening the doors to inspect the prisoners therein. His sage mode had faded at least. So he hopefully wouldn't freak any out.
Mushi looks thoughtfully to the scientist. "Oh I'm curious alright," she says. "But I'd never have gotten involved in this, if it weren't for my companion. It's vile and unspeakable." She glances at the floating mass of flesh. "Shinobi have always done barbaric things to try and recreate bloodline limits. I have no interest and no ability in helping." Then she goes over to the tube to look at the flesh. She could always store it away. It may be valuable evidence. But something is just emanating from it, this horrible feeling that it's wrong.
"I always thought every organism deserves a chance at life," she says. Then she takes a few steps back, and makes a couple hand seals. The symbol she had stamped on the tube begins to glow, and a few moments later it flashes. Everything within the tube is vaporized. She sighs. She could've used that as evidence, but there's too much evil that went into that thing to allow it to carry on. "And now you," she says coldly. "Unless you have something /useful/ to tell me."
The flash of light that Mushi creates with her seal catches the eye of Goh as he wanders out of one of the prisons, a glance given to her before he ducks back into the next chamber. There were a number of these, so he had a few people to visit! A firm nod of approval is given from the pickler though, as if to ease any doubts Mushi may have had. Or at the very least show he was in agreeance with her decision to vaporise it.
The scientist however, screams in anguish as Mushi destroys the specimen. "NOOO! Do you have ANY idea what you've DONE?!" He squirms in the mud hole, trying to writhe free. It results to nothing, which infuriates him even further. "YEARS of planning. RUINED! I'LL KILL YOU! RARGHHH!" More squirming.
The three ninja remain oddly calm, however. But then, with a crackle of movement, they appear to break free! Through sheer force of chakra and probably some technique they bust loose of their earthly bounds. They don't stay and fight though. Nope! They just flee. In the blink of an eye they're gone, darting back down the corridor.
Goh spots them, but little care is given. He has finally finished doing his rounds, coming up behind the healer as the head scientist is still wailing in despair. "All of the hostages and prisoners are taken care of, hun. The salamander are transporting them back to where their home Villages. They were all physically fine, if not exhausted and with laceration wounds from skin samples. None mortally wounded."
With a heaving sigh, he rubs his head. His own chakra levels were low after such a fight. "What should we do with the scientists stuck here?"
"I have no idea what I just destroyed," Mushi says. "Something ugly. But if you mention how I ruined years of your work again, I might just kill you. You've stolen the lives of so many innocent people. What of them?" She shakes her head. "Science is for helping lives, not taking them."
When Goh asks what should be done with the man, she rubs her chin. Then, she smiles. "We'll hand them over to the Land of Snow prison. Discreetly. Where they'll never be able to hurt anyone again." They had saved their bacon, after all. It'd be easy to get their cooperation in this.
She then turns to the survivors. "Or I could let you go, as I mentioned but I think you'd just end up running into a salamander's stomach, ne." She hadn't made any promises about Goh, and she tells him as much.
Goh winces at the very thought of such a sentence. The look on the faces of these scientists suggests they hadn't even heard of such a place. And really, why would they have? It's a classified location designed to house S-Rank shinobi criminals. "Hope you guys brought your thermals." He comments wryly. It's met with just more perplexed looks.
He shakes his head at the idea of letting them go into a salamander's mouth. "Na. Keeping them alive would be good. They obviously don't feel like talking now, but after a few months on ice that might change. We need to find out how they did this. And how they managed to fool every single clan and every Village into taking their clansmen without them even knowing." A look of pity is given to the scientists. Some of them, like the leader, look mad. Others are legitimately crying. They obviously didn't want to be locked up.
"I need to get out of here." Goh comments with suddenness. He had thought this would be a reunion for the Akuu clan, after all. Now that it's not, just standing here makes him feel angry and lost. "We can call for the prison guards to come pick up the scientists from outside. Ready to go?"
"Bear with it several minutes," Mushi says, and she spends the rest of the time seeing to the prisoners. Making sure the preparations for the clean up are complete. Then she'd take his arm. "Let's go," she says. Her hand is tight around his arm, so tight it's as if she's holding onto him as if he were an anchor. Or as if she were an anchor. Arm in arm they'd go out of that hellhole, and Mushi at least would never look back. On their way out she says, "I'm so hungry I'd even eat some pickled vegetables." A tiny smile.
