Starring:
Date: July 22, 2016
Summary:
Michiko is traveling her way back from Iwagakure to Kumogakure, and she has a little run-in with the Storm Brigade that happens to be a kidnapping!
"The Storm Brigade - Storm at Kyuusen"
Kyuusen Crater
Michiko is making her way through some of the more neutral areas, traveling by land rather than water for a few reasons. The first is that she can travel … Well, not faster, but she can be more aware of her surroundings when she travels by foot. The second is that she was a bit nervous she'd run into the Storm Brigade since they were known to attack islands. Of course, they also staged an attack on Konoha, so they could really appear from anywhere, but Michiko figured her chances of running into them was less. Right now, Michiko is passing through the deserted ruins of Fort Kyuusen, which had been annihilated by some jutsu, likely. She forgets the details right now, more focused on not stumbling and keeping a general eye out. A glance upwards at the sky, and she sees no sign of clouds or storms. It was a good day to travel, at least.
Much like a normal storm, the Storm Brigade's attacks cannot be predicated by location. A group looking to wipe out the shinobi world does not mind taking the battle wherever it needs to go. And it would seem they have a new tactic in how they are attacking… Taking powerful Jounin from the villages that they need to fight back to dishearten them. Okumo Kiji was the first to be taken, but that was basically her own fault since she put herself in position to be taken. Someone else's poison blade stabbing her while trying to stab Hatsu probably didn't help much either.
However the group is keeping an eye on the villages, it seems they have figured out that Michiko was traveling alone on her way back to Kumogakure from Iwagakure. Along the Kyuusen Crater, the clear sky suddenly begins to darken with black clouds. Rain begins to fall upon the land, lightning striking upon the ground as the day turns from completely clear in this area into the eye of a hurricane. No sign of men in black cloaks just yet, but one can basically guarantee they're coming.
RP: Michiko transforms into SIZZLE-IV.
COMBAT: Michiko focuses 8816 stamina to turn it into 12000 usable chakra!
RPCOMBAT: Michiko defends against with a MASTERED-EARTHEN-SENSE…85
Michiko notices the sky darkening to the point where it was far too sudden and unusual. In that instant, she was on the alert, chakra flaring up a bit like a beacon for any sensors that might be around. "Maybe I should have taken up an escort…" she mutters to herself, a chakra aura seeming to flicker around her body much like flames. Michiko cast her senses out along the ground, mapping things out within the mile to see if she can sense much of anything. She couldn't help but think in the back of her mind that it was pointless if they could fly like Seiko, but that didn't halt her attempts.
As the rain came pouring down, Michiko reached up to the hitai-ate around her neck and tugged at its knot to make sure it was secure. A hand dropped to the pouch at her side, but did not move to grab anything from it. Instead, she simply continued on her way across the Kyuusen crater. She was originally going to travel around it, but across seemed like the better option just about now.
COMBAT: Taki focuses 8395 stamina to turn it into 12000 usable chakra!
Even if some of the people might be able to fly, a great number of them are on the ground and rock formations. Dozens of them are incoming and surrounding the Head Ninja, flashes of lightning revealing their black cloaks around in a rather disturbing fashion. Another flash of lightning would reveal them lifting their hands to point at Michiko, firing off dozens of streams of lightning at her with intent to blast her. Seems they don't think she will come along as easily as Kiji did, so they're going to bring her down first or at least weaken her enough to land a long-term stun so she can be brought to their base.
COMBAT: Michiko defends against LIGHTNING-CRASH(84) attack from Taki with a WIND-STEP…84
COMBAT: Michiko defends against LIGHTNING-CRASH(75) attack from Taki with a WIND-STEP…88
Michiko's hair rises as the Lightning crackles around her. Being a Kumogakure shinobi, she was far too used to lightning being used as an attack because … Well, all of Kumo (pretty much) uses lightning. The girl recalls all too well some of the spars she was in throughout her career as a shinobi where she was electrocuted, and she wasn't fond of receiving that experience from an enemy. Michiko seems to disappear, wind cutting through the Lightning as she moves to avoid the attack. "Che…" she mutters, making a few hand seals. The ground is quick to come alive, hands of earth forming and grabbing as many of the Storm Brigade as she can. There were about ten hands in total, all of them working to grab the various individuals tying to attack her. It was far from enough, though, if she was counting the black cloaks correctly.
COMBAT: Taki defends against DEMON-GRAVES(77) attack from Michiko with a SEAL-ENCAMPMENT-WALL…101
COMBAT: Taki defends against DEMON-GRAVES(89) attack from Michiko with a SEAL-ENCAMPMENT-WALL…80
COMBAT: Taki defends against DEMON-GRAVES(76) attack from Michiko with a TENSE…12
COMBAT: Taki ESCAPES from Michiko's stun!
The brigade has a rather interesting method for defending against Michiko's attack. Rather than getting out of the way, a number of them moves through handseals then slam their hands on the ground to create a seal barrier over the ground itself rather than standing upward. This protects a number of them, though a number of them are still pulled into the ground. That, however, doesn't stop those up top from continuing their attack, this time with another element. Michiko would find at least half a dozen jets of water of force extreme enough to cut through stone intending to carve through her body. They are not attacking her in full number yet either, which means they might just be toying with her for now… or simply intending to wear her down.
COMBAT: Michiko defends against PURE-WATER-SPEAR(88) attack from Taki with a EARTH-STYLE-WALL…59
COMBAT: Michiko loses the roll and sustains 2182 damage.
COMBAT: Michiko defends against PURE-WATER-SPEAR(74) attack from Taki with a EARTH-STYLE-WALL…72
COMBAT: Michiko loses the roll and sustains 1996 damage.
COMBAT: Michiko heals Michiko for 1943 with MYSTICAL PALM TECHNIQUE.
Michiko barely has the time to make a sort of follow up attack, as the water bursts out towards her in a powerful jet. She ends up getting some nasty injuries, the water having cut through the earth barrier she formed between herself and the water. It was painful, making red flash in her vision. It was likely only an automatic reaction that she immediately sent healing chakra through her body to heal the worst of the injuries, though she was down for the count for a few moments while she healed herself.
With Michiko unable to followup on her previous attack thanks to being so damaged, the Storm Brigade members she had captured in the earth begin to rise back out of the ground. As they do, their counterparts on the surface shift their handseals, causing the rain that is beating down to begin to form into a number of giant pillars of water that flow down at her like waterfalls from all directions to try and damage her further while restraining her to try and begin the process of capturing her. Not a word has been spoken, no mercy given by either side. It seems even these guys take some battles as serious as they should, possibly a side-effect of their real leader taking the reins after the death of Kano. Whatever the case, they are quite determined to accomplish their mission here today.
COMBAT: Michiko defends against GREAT-WATERFALL(71) attack from Taki with a METAL-DOME…119
COMBAT: Michiko defends against GREAT-WATERFALL(99) attack from Taki with a METAL-DOME…93
COMBAT: Michiko loses the roll and sustains 1477 damage.
Michiko watches the pillars of water appear, and, anticipating a huge attack, she makes a few hand seals that create a dome of metal to surround her. She was hoping that it would keep her safe from the giant waterfall crashing down on her, and it did for a few moments. The initial wave that struck the dome was kept at bay, smashing against the metal, but not denting it. The defense was very strong, apparently. But it can't withstand everything. Michiko had failed to protect the area below her, which allowed the water to sneak into her dome and trap her within. The water rushed up from beneath her, slamming her back into the dome's wall and making her hit her head so that she would see stars for a little bit. @.@
RP: Hatsu transforms into PERFECT-HYDRIFICATION.
COMBAT: Hatsu focuses 5855 stamina to turn it into 8000 usable chakra!
Perhaps the scariest thing about the Storm Brigade is that their leader is someone many consider to be the perfect shinobi. Yoichi was one of the most feared of the Seven Swordsmen ever as well as the Head Hunter of Kirigakure. This means they have access to tactics and knowledge of the ins and outs of shinobi villages and their combat and operation tactics that even the Silence could not match. This makes them capable to attack the villages in ways that other groups could barely dream of… and gives them an edge to even help them against one of the most revered shinobi in the shinobi world.
As Michiko is trapped by the racing waters, another section of the battalion upon her brings their hands forward and fires forth stream after stream of lightning. They are particularly careful with how much damage they do, however, as their goal is to capture not to kill, and a certain other person in their midst might get quite angry if they screw that up.
As the flashes of ligtning fade, out of the water rushing around Michiko forms a figure that haunts the shinobi world as one of its foremost that has turned her back on them… Kaguya-Hozuki Hatsu. The crimson-eyed woman looks over Michiko sternly to survey the damage that has been done to her then stretches her arms forward to wrap her arms around the Head Ninja and pull her close. It might even be comforting to receive the hug were Michiko not further pulled in Hatsu, literally absorbed by her body to be suspended by the pressure of the water of her body in the darkness of her form. Assuming that goes without issue, the storm would at last cease to leave the wreckage and metal of this battle behind. The water created by the jutsu cast flows into the crater and into the areas around it as Hatsu and the Brigade move out to quickly head back to the ocean to move back to their base.
COMBAT: Michiko defends against LIGHTNING-CRASH(84) attack from Taki with a TENSE…17
COMBAT: Michiko loses the roll and sustains 2831 damage.
COMBAT: Michiko ESCAPES from Taki's stun!
COMBAT: Michiko defends against DROWNING-WATER-BLOB(114) attack from Hatsu with a EFFICIENT-METAL-BARRIER…92
COMBAT: Michiko loses the roll and sustains 675 damage.
RP: Michiko reverts to her normal state.
Michiko can only barely withstand the damage of the Lightning, hanging onto consciousness by a thread as the pain races through her body and pretty much steals her breath away. The metal casing was zapped away as the chakra hold on it loosened, which is probably a good thing since Michiko would be free of the water. She is barely breathing, partly because of the effort and partly because she's in so much pain that even the smallest movement is painful. The girl's vision is blurry and surrounded by dark edges that seem to grow. That darkness isn't great enough to disguise the red-eyed woman that's surveying the damage. As Hatsu reaches down, Michiko would, weakly, attempt to fend the woman off by putting her arms in front of her. Chakra races through a bit of the armor she has on her arms, but it isn't going to stop the hug, nor does it stop Hatsu from suddenly absorbing Michiko into her body. It was actually a very strange sensation, being trapped in Hatsu's form… Michiko took a few moments to marvel at it.
RP: Hatsu reverts to its normal state.
If she manages to stay conscious long, Michiko might detect that they've moved into water by the feeling of impact of the water's surface and additional pressure that comes as they head under. The pressure grows more and more as it seems they go deep deep under water, deeper than most shinobi could manage or survive, but they obviously have jutsu for just that. It's probably being inside Hatsu that keeps the pressure from becoming so great that it harms Michiko as they move, a series of constant twists and turns and moving up and down making it impossible to tell where they are heading, but, by the speed and distance they are moving, it is far away from any shinobi nation.
Michiko is fading in and out as the group travels to … wherever it is. Probably their base. It's a bit surprising to Michiko that they hadn't actually killed her yet, but really, she probably would have done the same thing… They pretty much did the same thing when they had taken Kano from the Storm Brigade, even. Their plans were just a bit foiled. While she can still think, the idle thought of how ironic the situation itself is passes through her brain. Not being attached to the earth is disorienting Michiko enough as it is, but adding the twisting and turning of the water was just making that worse… She was getting a headache and starting to hope that she would actually fall unconscious for a longer period of time than a few seconds or minutes.
After a long period of fading in and out and travel somewhere far, far away. At some point when she is out, a set of seal cuffs were placed on her hands. Though they are not chained together, they are designed to keep a constant enough drain on one's chakra to prevent use as well as make it incredibly painful to use chakra at all, which, in Michiko's current state, could easily finish her off. This would be explained at a time when she is awake and would perhaps feel that they have at last left the water, except the pressure still feels like they are far, far under sea level.
Soon enough she would find herself deposited onto a bed in a room that appears to be carved out of a rockface. The room is actually pretty nice with some amenities provided and such. Hatsu gently sets Michiko on the bed and nods to her. "… You should sleep. You will not be escaping this place or sending out any kind of beacon that will reach anywhere."
Michiko recognizes the seal cuffs when she manages to focus enough on the design. She has been studying seals a great deal, even if she doesn't use them often in battle. A small curse escapes her as she just focuses on keeping her wits about her, trying to recover from getting smacked around by the water and electrocuted. Really, she was having a hard time focusing and staying awake, though. Hatsu's words ring through her ears, and it takes far too long for Michiko to process them. And even after she does, the most she can do is eye Hatsu … Sort of. She sorta got mega beat up, after all, and recovering from all that wasn't gonna be the swiftest unless she or another healed her.
Once she has the idea that Michiko understands her predicament, Hatsu nods to her and reaches down to put a hand on her shoulder. "I hope you know I have no malice toward you. I am only doing what must be done. Perhaps you'll see by the time you recover and you can be one of the ones to help me build the new world once we've washed this one away." Withdrawing her hand then, she turns and moves toward the door. "I'll give you some time to think on it." That said, she steps out the door and closes it. Sounds of latches and bars being put in place ring out, letting Michiko know that she has been locked in… Might as well get comfortable.
Michiko has too much pain in her system to react to Hatsu's words visibly, though she does close her eyes. In her mind, a lot of what she's thinking involves cursing Hatsu and the Storm Brigade for kidnapping her while her village needed her. The other small part is saying, 'I'm gonna sleep now'. Once the locks are in place, Michiko chooses to do just that, forcing herself to sleep and get some rest. Even if she isn't the most comfortable right now.
