Starring:
Akiko, Katashi, Rikuto, Tsuchi
Date: September 14, 2014
Summary:
Team Sandstorm and Katashi are sent to track down some rogue shinobi who are part of a group known as the Leather Punks.
"The Leather Punks - Gathering Information"
Desert in the Land of Wind
Rikuto and Akiko were on an official team with Tsuchi, but that doesn't mean they can't be sent off to work with other shinobi. The newly-formed Team Sandstorm would find themselves working together with Katashi and sent off along one of the major roads leading from Sunagakure to their ally Kirigakure. It was said there were multiple sightings of rogue ninja that called themselves the "Leather Punk" gang. The Sunagakure shinobi's mission this time was simple: try to take them out. Failing that, learn more about them and even try to take a captive.
The team was to set out early so the sun wouldn't be too much of an issue while they traveled. Especially as summer draws closer and closer. Akiko yawns as she waits for the others by the gate, the Hayato almost falling asleep while leaning against a post. Kotone, thankfully, wakes her up with a peck to the ear once the others show up. "Bwa-good morning, everyone," comes a slightly slurred reply as she tries to wake up fully. Maybe a bit of running will do her good…
Running behind, having gotten into an argument that no one else would of really understood, Katashi comes strolling up towards the gate. Looking about for those others who might be there, he'd nod politely to Akiko in greeting, eyeing Kotone. ~Another day with the bird. She's totally giving you the bird! Ha! get it? get it??~ '…' Katashi sighed softly and glanced to the others. "All ready? Let's get going then. We have to travel to try and catch them."
Seeming in no rush, Rikuto would be seen approaching the gate with a slow stride, his eyes were almost closed at this point, likely not fully awake. "Always the mornings.." was muttered but watching as a bird like shape bop at a girl, he knew he ran into the right pairing, even smirking a little at what he saw. "Mornin." Turning to his side, the young Miira only then seems to notice Katashi and dips his head lightly towards the man. "We're running into each other more often, huh?"
The sound is like something of a freight train moving even as Akiko will suddenly be literaly be overshadowed and Kotone likely flustered as now standing on the post above her, the same one she was leaning on, is Tsuchi looking down at her, "Akiko, were you sleeping?" She hmms as she crosses her arms and stares down at the pair before she glances over toward Katashi before looking past him at Katashi and then she pushes off, flips and lands on her feet ahead of the group and then nods her head, "Katashi is right." She states, "We're going to have to run to catch up to that group." She then holds up a hand, "Don't worry though, I don't expect you all to run as fast as me."
Even as she speaks, Sora comes rushing up and spins in to place with a bag on his back and states quite proudly, "I have snacks!" He nods and then stands up on his hindlegs. That ferret really is getting bigger, he stands now with his head coming up to just below Tsuchi's shoulder as he points back, "Plenty for a long mission!"
Kotone simply blinks a little as Tsuchi suddenly appears, and then Sora. The bird saw the pair from a distance, but the fact that they covered that in so little time is still extremely impressive. Akiko literally jumps, which startles the falcon more than Tsuchi and Sora ever did… "Sensei, umm. I wasn't sleeping, but close to it. I mean…" She shakes her head a bit. "Umm… Yeah, we should go!" She sets out of the village, already at a run. No time no time to sit and chat. They had rogue shinobi to catch!
The journey itself isn't very eventful, though. There's a lot of sand and few signs of life beyond the occasional cart that passes along the way. It's not until the team is three hours into their travels that they would even see a decent landmark. A rock, of all things, that was indicated in the report is where the Leather Punks were first spotted. Whether or not its their hideout, the group was warned in their reports to watch out for traps. Said traps were meant for capture rather than killing, but that could be just as deadly!
Katashi nodded to Tsuchi in greeting, giving Rikuto the same answering nod. ~Ooo.. the ferret is here! Go on.. say.. say something.. make him insult you again!!~ '… shut up.' Katashi shifted on his feet and nodded towards the road. "Alright. Let's go." Falling in with the others, he wasn't quite able to keep up with the top speed, but he was relentless in his own travel. Looking about, Katashi would slow as they neared the rock, frowning. "There.. there's a glint in the sand. Everyone, heads up!" ~pfft.. they know that. You're such a slow poke.~
"When did.." Rikuto simply shakes his head when he notices Tsuchi appear almost from nowhere. Glancing at Sora, the teen studies the backpack or sorts he carried before moving off to follow behind Katashi. During the journey, the young Miira would slip a thin tube from the collar of his cloak to his mouth. Turning to Katashi once he spoke up and then nods but when he looks away he doesn't notice anything out of place. "A glint in the sand.. where?" Rising his right hand, he begins to lightly scratch at the top of his head before advancing but slower than at full stride.
A look at Katashi and then forward and Tsuchi is blinking before nodding and pointing, "I see it, too." She nods and states as she points ahead before she calls over, "Rikuto, stop." She nods her head and then looks over at Akiko. She looks at her a moment before pointing up, "Kotone needs to give us a better view of the situation." She nods her head before looking over at Katashi and nodding to him, "Good eye." She then looks forward again, trying to look around for good ambush points.
Sora peers at the situation before looking over at the others and then nodding even as he begins to slip to the side slowly, slipping over to a nearby dune to try to move behind it slowly and get out of sight.
Akiko makes her way along the desert with little difficulty, able to keep up well enough with the main group. She may not be that fast, but still. Sharp eyes see the rock in the distance, and she slows to a stop even before Katashi does. She stares at the ground, able to see that spot Katashi pointed out (with a bit of Kotone's help). "Wait, Rikuto-san!" Fortunately the others managed to stop the boy from continuing before he triggered anything.
"Okay, yeah…" she says, having Kotone fly up and scout the area. But apparently Rikuto's movements were close enough to the trap that something was triggered! Four bandits come out of hiding, the source being that Rocky outcropping. Of course, being rogue Shinobi, they don't give the Suna-nin that much of a chance to realize they're under attack. Two of them have whips for weapons while the second two seem to be armed with bows. The first two are likely grunts, as they move to attack the weakest-seeming people: Akiko and Rikuto. Tsuchi, Sora, and Katashi find themselves under the assault of exploding arrows, fiery arrows, lightning arrows, and normal arrows.
Katashi tensed as the rogues showed up. ~ahh.. time to see how bad you fail once again..~ Gritting his teeth, Katashi moved, rushing forward. While he'd manage to dodge one set of arrows, the next caught him, the fire singing his body. Hissing at the pain, the mental laughter mirroring it, Katashi put on a burst of speed. Rushing the first guy, he'd come in high, with a leap, only to have it a fake, spinning behind the man to strike out with a sweep. A flurry of sand kicked up with the sweep as Katashi would slam his elbow into the now in the air man, slamming him to the dirt. He'd hope that Tsuchi can get the other one of course.
Rikuto tilts his head back as he turns to glance at Tsuchi, soon pausing after he was called to. "Huh? Just where should I be looking then?" Before he would get a proper answer, the teen looks forward again just as several figures seemingly appear from nowhere. The air around Rikuto flares up but not quickly enough as a lash of a whip cracks and strikes across his chest through the limited protection. In response, the young Miira spits twice at the man's head, each time bursts of flames fly freely, before trying to retreat away.
Slipping out of the way of the attacks with great speed, Tsuchi looks to Sora and nods to him before they look at the enemies. She nods, "Lets bring these scum down!" She calls out before she fist bumps Sora once and they rushe forward. She aims for one in particular, the one who shot arrows at her. Sora comes from one side and she comes from the other, sending a pair of wind powered punches at his sides to crush him in between their hits even as she chuckles and looks to the others, "This ends in one minute or you two are running laps for the rest of the day! Hear me Akiko and RIkuto?"
Akiko jumps away from the stinging whip and lets out a sigh of relief. That was unexpected… She whips out a few arrows and sends them at the bandits, muttering to herself about surprise attacks. Kotone wheels down quickly to try and attack the one aiming his whip at her friend. Regardless of whether or not the attacks hit, Akiko makes her way over to a place where she can aim her arrows better.
The bandit that the Hayato was aiming for finds himself attacked by a bird, which is distracting enough that the arrows pierce his shoulder and arm. He curses aloud and switches the whip to his other hand, using it to attack Akiko again. The one Rikuto faces ends up getting burnt, though he's able to dodge one of the fires aimed at him. He also retaliates with a lash of his whip. Katashi isn't doing well against his opponent either, only one of his hits going through. The wind strike against the final bandit goes through, but then it doesn't, the man able to dodge just barely. More arrows are fired at the higher level Shinobi. It seems they know fighting close range against Katashi and Tsuchi is a bad idea.
Katashi, closer now, was able to watch the strikes, quickly moving to the side, neatly avoiding the arrow as he'd rush after the man. "Get DOWN!!" That yell carried with it the genjutsu pulse, seeking to put the man on his knees while Katashi came in with a massive launching kick towards the man's gut. He was starting to get annoyed.
Once again the winds spin around and yet again they seem to not be enough against the sudden and rapid assault. Rikuto now focuses on retreating rather than trying to stay in close range of the whip and closer towards Akiko. The teen laces his fingers together, focusing briefly before calling out, "Get ready to jump!" but he didn't explain what he meant.
Yes, fighting at close range against Tsuchi and Sora is a poor plan. That is sure to any who know her. However, another truth is fighting at range is not a good idea either. Even as Sora begins moving his paws in various seals, forming weapons out of pure lightning, Tsuchi jumps into the air, spins her own seals before landing with a whipping kick that sends a blast of wind meant to take the archer off his feat before Sora sends those weapons flying at the enemy in a tremendous deluge of attacks. She grins as she finishes the attack and then states, "45 seconds left!"
Akiko finds herself dancing backwards again, the girl doing a backflip to avoid that stinging whip. A blink and a glance at Rikuto when he shouts out, but she nods a bit and prepares to jump again. For now, though, she aims her arrows at that bandit again. The flash bang hopefully blinds the rogue Shinobi enough that her next arrows will hit.
Katashi's Genjutsu fails to affect the Shinobi targeted, but that focus was so great that he failed to realize the man was charging straight at him. Oww, that's a painful chakra-powered punch! The wind is knocked out of him, and he goes down. A very easy target now, is he not? Tsuchi has some good luck with the whirlwind sweep, knocking over the other archer-nin and leaving him vulnerable to a few of those lightning stabs. Again, ow. However, he's far from down… technically. After getting up again, he takes his arrows and sends more in Tsuchi's direction, these ones flaming.
Akiko's arrows all hit, and it results in quite a bit of pain. She gets lucky in her final arrow, this one piercing his throat and essentially dead. The one facing Rikuto notices the genin pause and takes the opportunity to attack him again.
Launching the bandit, Katashi didn't even slow down after the kick, racing after the guy. ~We want prisoners. To torture, to rip apart slowly.. blood.. we want their blood~ 'I'm trying to focus here!' ~I DEMAND RED STUFF FROM THIS MAN!!!~ Katashi grunted as he'd skid to a stop near where the man had fallen, sand kicked up as he'd plant his feet into a spin, arching up and over to come down with that heavy foot to the man's gut, seeking to keep him down, now that he got knocked down. Dropping into a crouch, Katashi made a hand sign, glancing over at the Bandit on Rikuto and with that move would lash out with that genjutsu again, seeking to knock the man off his feet. It was subtle, a preceived shift in the sand, that would cause him to kneel before Rikuto. Katashi started tying up the guy he knocked out if it worked, prisoner and all that.
Rikuto seems to lunge forward, striking at the rogue shinobi. Unfortunately for the Miira, the the whip strike slashes around the fake and strikes him in the side. Moving his fingers to his lips, the teen huffs as a trio of small orbs rush from his mouth before rapidly expanding as they approached the shinobi that had been striking him relentlessly.
This time the arrows come at Tsuchi and she winces as she take a hit and hten looks at it in her shoulder before she grabs the arrow and wrenches it free with a scream. The burnt and bleeding wound causing her some pain but not really stopping her. She smirks and looks at the others, "RIkuto, Akiko. You have 30 more seconds to wrap this up." Even as she states that, she jumps high into the air and Sora is already scrambling out of teh way as she makes her hand seals and then suddenly she lets out a breath of wind. Others have seen this move break down cliff sides as well as she sends the massive blast of wind downward toward the enemy shinobi and states, "Time to bury you!" She calls out and if he is hit, he will be smashed right into a crater in the sands, sand likely tumbling in on top of him after the wind settles.
With no one to face off against, Akiko looks around to figure out where she would be useful. It seems the Miira is having difficulties with his opponent, so she sends two arrows at him. She then has to dodge back slightly to avoid the heat coming from him. Sadly, the Miura's heat is easily avoided by the rogue Shinobi, but his dodging allowed Akiko to get a few shots in. Those arrows get extremely lucky, piercing the rogue in his hand and thigh.
Two down for the genin. Katashi seems to be doing well too. That final blow to the archer he was facing knocks the dude out cold, meaning there are two captives. Tsuchi's attack is deadly. The man facing her ends up squashed, in a sense, and quite a bit of surrounding land got flattened. Good thing no allies were around him!
Watching the others get finished off, he'd nod and grab the now strung up unconcious gang member. ~But.. but.. blood!~ 'shut up.' Katashi walked over towards the others, hauling his prisoner. "Alright. We got what we came for. We broke some of their strength and we got prisoners. Let's get the other guy strung up and go. We might even make it back before lunch. ~Food! yes. Food is also good.~ Katashi glanced to Tsuchi then. "If that's alright with you of course."
Rikuto, slows down as he watches a pair of arrows lacerate the man before he's brought down as well. The teen brings his arms in close to his chest, quickly fixing his cloak around himself again though one arm cradles his lower ribs underneath. Looking down at the rogue in front of him, he turns to glance at Akiko and dips his head slightly and begrudgingly says, "Thanks for that." Turning his attention towards Katashi, he nods lightly but then turns to look at Tsuchi expectantly.
A hurrm and she looks around before nodding, "Just in time." Tsuchi states and nods, "YOu two got off lucky." She nods her head and smiles as Sora moves to help tie up the bandits that are still breathing. She looks at Katashi and nods to him before looking at the other two, "Lunch sounds good." She nods and chuckles, "Lets go!"
