Starring:
Date: June 27, 2012
Summary:
Goh and Amani fight a giant monster in order to gain some valuable marinate!
"The Giant Squid"
Kumogakure
It's about mid-morning in the land of Kumogakure. People have risen from bed, had breakfast and now headed to do their jobs. Whether that be shinobi-ing, shopping or doing something else entirely.
At this point, most have passed by the beach. Which is unfortunate for one, since it seems someone needs help. It's the local tourist and shopkeeper, Goh! Out onto the beach proper, the mists are slowly being burnt off to reveal the blonde standing atop a small dinghy. It rocks and sways on the epic waves that pass underneath it. What is causing the huge waves, you ask?
…it's the gigantic squid that he's trying to wrangle up! A huge monster, easily fifty feet high with tentacles waving and thrashing about. All the blonde wields is a long spear, which he helplessly jabs into the air, trying to intimidate the thing.
It's not really working.
The giant squid lets out a high pitched squeal that can likely be heard hundreds of meters away, as the titanic battle continues.
"You damn ink-sack! I just want some of your skin! Just let me slice a piece off!" One of the seven tentacles slams down into the water, precariously near the very shoddily built dinghy that he's in. The craft bounces up in the air, causing Goh to stir a bit. He was never good on vehicles of any sort. And sea-sickness was perhaps his achilles heel.
Amani was one of those few people. An early bird, bred into her from being part of a clan that liked to be ahead of everything. It was the only way hunting could be done. One step ahead of the animals, yeah? Anyhow, being in the village hasn't changed that at all and after she dressed herself up as well as ate, she headed out to do what she wanted to do. The day was all hers to command since she had a nice day off.
So, she headed to the beach to do a bit of scoping around. She doesn't think fish were in these waters, though she's heard tale of some appearing every so often. If there were, she'd just have to figure out their pattern of visiting in order to make a good catch. What happens when she gets there riles up her nerves and gets her blood flowing. There was activity here, but of what she couldn't tell with the mists phasing in and out every so often.
She could make out /something/, a person and…were those tentacles? She didn't want to draw too close, but she wanted to be able to see what was going on. Maybe she could…no, no, she could hear it just fine with all the shouting. Humdrum. Maaaybe she should just…stay back here and wait 'til it's done. As much as she wanted to intervene, this seemed to be a battle between man and beast. Rules of the hunt. Do not interrupt.
"You bloody squid! Just stay still and let me—UGH!" One of the tentacles catches Goh square in the side, winding the wanderer and sending him flying through the air. He gets some serious distance, displaying that the force behind those tentacles was simply outrageous.
Slowly he falls down, landing on the sand very gracefully. That being, on his shoulder. He sort of skids and tumbles to a halt, the end result being him getting knocked clear a good thirty or so meters.
Groggily, he sits back up straight, spitting out some sand. With the way he's favouring his side, he could have broken, or at least cracked a few ribs there. "Damn that stupid thing, being so protective of its own skin…" He mutters, before looking back over to Amani.
"Oh, hi there. You're that girl from the other day."
Amani nodded simply to Goh's recognition of her, only after she tried to hold back her laughter of seeing him fly through the air and land on the ground, skidding from this squid's power. She still doesn't want to interrupt and she knows this is definitely a fight that she can't win, but that isn't much to stop her. "You alright?" She inquired to him. "Any damage you've taken that I should take a look into?" She wondered while looking to the squid. How'd it end up over here anyway and so big too. "I can try and get whatever it is you wanted off of it, but first, I'll perform my duties and look you over," she proceeded forward, making sure to avoid the wrath of the squid. "Those veggies were good, by the way. Kept me going for as long as I needed them to." She kneeled on the ground one she was close enough. "So, why are you trying to get its skin anyway?"
"S'alright, I don't need help." Wincing as he gets to his feet, he sucks in a deep breath. "I mean, I appreciate that you will be able to heal me up all right, but… sometimes I just like the body to heal on its own. Does that make sense? I guess it sounds sort of weird." He holds up his hand, as if signifying that he's done for the day. "Couple ribs are a little sore, but should be fine." He twists a little bit, before exhaling slowly.
"Don't worry about it. I know when I'm beat. I'd say that if I didn't have motion sickness, I could have won with my handy spear. Yep!" He seems confident about that, but he usually does. "And that's good to hear. Actually, the reason I wanted a bit of its skin is because of the pickled vegetables. Big squids have a gland in their skin that releases a natural chemical. It's great to marinate vegies in, giving them more power. Just part of the life I live, collecting ingredients."
"You sure?" Amani wondered. It was his funeral if he didn't want any, but whatever. He wanted to heal up on his own and that was completely fine with her. "Whatever you say. I can understand that." She can completely understand wanting to die on purpose. "well, if you're done here, then it's my turn." She grinned impishly. "Where's the gland located so I can get it?" She wondered. "I want to try my hands at this squid. I'll get that glad and maybe learn a thing or two about its anatomy." She looked back at Goh as she began to take off her jacket and drop it to the ground, stretching out her limbs. "Should I be worried about the ink? I know that stuff can be bitter."
"Eh? You're going to take it on?" Goh says, seeming surprised at this notion. "But… what about sea sickness?!" This was clearly his biggest worry, as it had affected him so badly. "Erm, right. Nevermind. Any chunk of skin will do, really. So long as it's not a dry piece. Try and get a moist piece on the leg. Those are the targets I was going for." He nods a bit, before sitting back down. "The ink won't harm you. It just sucks if it decides to use it on ya." Lifting up his finger, he continues.
"Don't kill it. I'm not looking to murder the thing. Just get a piece of skin that is only a couple of inches square. Sound good? And.. don't die. The Village would hate me."
"Yeah! There's nothing better than…fighting a squid monster on my day off! I don't get to do anything, but fight infections all day. But /this/!" Amani was getting excited. "I'll get a good and wet place. No worries." She began to gather her chakra into her hands to cast her jutsu. "I'll see if I can stun it. The water will amplify my sound and make it stronger. With this thing in the water, I'll have it taken out in no time." With that, the girl runs forward toward the waters.
The squid was still fighting, it seemed. Maybe it was just angry and looking for revenge, but this Yamayuki wasn't included with all that. She wanted to get in her first hunt in a long time and this was the way to do it. She made the mistake of being too eager, however, and took a tentacle straight to the stomach where the wind was knocked out of her lungs and pain scattered throughout her body, sending her backward on the beach. She'd need a bit of recovery time, but she'd be alright. She needed to hit this thing where it hurt the most, but she needed to be close enough to do so.
Watching Amani dash out quickly, Goh quirks an eyebrow. Only seconds later, she comes flying backwards onto the sand. "Wow, that was quick." The blonde mentions sarcastically. "Did you get it already?" He laughs a little bit, though find he can't force too much of it since he's still wounded himself. "Relax, Amani. There's no rush. Suck in some deep breaths and figure out how you're going to get it before… yknow, it hits you." Rubbing his side as if to try and get more pain out, he thinks.
"You said you use sound, right? Doesn't that mean you can hit it from long range? Why don't you just do that and get it while its confused and stuff?"
"Because I want to face it head on!" Amani shouts with some indignance. "But…I could use the sound. I just…it just feels wrong," she admits. Then again, she doesn't have her usual hunting weapons, so there's no way she could actually do any close range damage. Guess jutsu will have to do. Since her chakra was still focused to her hands, she entered into her highest transformation to maximize the output of her sound. Her eyes changed and were replaced by three armed spirals, allowign her to see all the waves the squid created and ultimately, allowing her to see through openings where sound was most absent. With clear vision, so to speak, she followed the trail into the heart of the squid, ducking and dodging out of the way of the arms, even jumping through them until she neared the water and produced a sonic clap to send a strong wave into the water to stun the beast.
The blonde raises an eyebrow when Amani activates her bloodline limit. Getting to his feet, the wanderer makes his way over to her before grasping at her hands before she could execute her jutsu! Ideally before any sort of clap echoes out really.
"Hang on! Wait a second." He cries out. "What the heck are you doing? You can't just use ninjutsu on it. That's not fair at all, like you said. When I said you could use sound, I thought you meant… I dunno, a megaphone or something. Thought you were going to yell at it"
He would release her hands, before nodding his head. "What your gut instincts told you was right. Sorry, my mistake by saying you should use sound." He claps a fist into his hand. "Your hunt feels are right. We can't fight this thing down through ninjutsu. We'll do it by hand! Just like it would to us!"
Prepping himself, he flexes his fist. "How's this? I'll distract it. And then you sneak around the back and get the sample. Then meet me back on the beach."
Amani looked at Goh with some confusion and additional suspicion. How did he catch her like that? "Why can't I use ninjutsu on it? I…" She paused. "All I have available is ninjutsu." She huffed, and retracted her hands after removing them from Goh's grip and cancelling her jutsu before he released them. She muttered a few choice words at it all then began to try to think of another way to handle this thing since she couldn't attack it with jutsu.
She had other kinds of jutsu to use, but she really wanted to just hit this thing where it hurt. It's only when Goh reconsiders that her grin returns and she rubs her hands together, just shy of cackling. He had a plan that worked in her favor.
"Exactly what I was thinking! Let's do this!" Without hesitation, she began to execute her part of the plan by going around the squid to attack it. She was going to get her hit in. The hunt was on!
"Sneaky, I said! SNEEAAAAKKYYYY!" Goh cries out after Amani, who instead of sneaking around the back, looks like she is more going around to the side and attack the thing full on! The blonde sighs dramatically, rubbing his forehead a little. Oh well.
Giving his side one last rub, the wanderer darts out across the water himself, getting the things attention by calling it an array of different names. Of course, not that it would make any difference. Since it… cannot understand english. But still, all the noise he is generating appears to get the things attention. Given the way it's sqinging tentacles at Goh now, it's a logical assumption. He ducks, weaves and blocks to the best of his ability, using some agility to his benefit. Of course though, he cannot hold on for long! He's just relying on Amani to get that sample of skin and get out as soon as possible.
Of course, sneaky. Amani isn't that crazy. She has all sorts of abilities at her disposal! She wouldn't just sneak around willy nilly. As long as the squid was distracted, she wouldn't be detected as she was masking her steps by dampening them. Essentially, out of sight and out of mind, as well as earshot. She was going to get her hit, full on. She couldn't wave back and indicate what she was doing, she she pulled a kunai and, after searching for a nice, wet spot, she began to cut the piece out to Goh's specifications.
Given the sheer girth of the thing, a small slice out from a part out of notice isn't particulary attention-grabbing. Especially as it's trying to nail the fly that is bothering the squid! The fly being Goh, in this case, who continues to prance around, avoiding the damage as best he can. Just as Amani will finish cutting out the piece however, pulling it away, the squid will twinge in pain before THRUSTING a tentacle down at Goh at terrible speeds! Goh, who winces as his ribs threaten to crack a little more, is driven into the water with teriffic force, far under sea.
With him being underneath, the squid wheels around to face Amani. Or at least looking for whatever caused the pain!
Amani got the piece that she wanted, but this squid was pretty fast. She tried to hide out of its sight, but wasn't sure if she was going to be fast enough to get out of the way, so she took a dive and rolled across the ground, hoping to get to her feet and run away from it. She didn't say a thing as she ran, wishing not to attract any attention to her. It was already trying to look for whoever it was that caused the pain and she /did not/ want to be the object of its anger. The hunt was over. She had her technical kill and now it was time to get out of here.
Fortunately for all involved (except the squid), this monster has poor eyesight. And as such, fails to see Amani as she ducks out of the way, streaking back for the sandy beach. She'll arrive there safely, the squid still pounding and thrashing around for a good long few minutes — as if confused why it is suddenly sore. After a little bit it appears to calm down, before slowly submerging into the ocean. Had enough, likely.
It's not long after this that Goh washes up on the beach, slowly crawling out from the waves and onto the sand on all fours. Coughing and spluttering, trying to catch his breath. "That floating ink-sack sunnva…" He pants loudly, squinting around. "Please tell me you got something." He queries, looking at Amani.
Amani holds up her 'kill' triumphantly. "This is what I got for ya! I am the best," she grinned. "So, now that you've got this, what do I get in return?" Hunter-gather/trader, this girl. Bartering and all that. She does like to benefit, after all. "You okay? You look worse now. I think I should do something for you." She didn't care for any excuses as she wandered over and dropped the piece of the squid in his hands while she tried to run a diagnostic on him. When she was finished, she grumped. "…Looks like that thing got you in the ribs. Thankfully, it's not anything too bad and you'll heal up with a little attention. I won't use any jutsu on you if you want to heal on your own, so I can just set you up and bandage you up to allow your wounds to heal on your own as you so requested earlier."
"What do you get in return?" Goh asks, as if bewieldered. "Why, you did this on your own accord! Because of the thrill of the hunt! …or something like that, anyway." Moving around to sit upright and then stand up, he pockets the piece of meat. "Bandages work. Shall we head back to the Village for that? It's a bit of a hike, but it's nothing too serious." He smirks, before looking back out at the ocean. "Well, aside from nearly drowning twice, nearly getting my ribs shattered and nearly puncturing my lung, I think it's a success! Got the rare piece of good stuff." And with this, he'll begin to head back to the Village.
"You're pretty fiesty for a medic nin, yknow that? I thought all you guys were supposed to be peace and love."
