Starring:
Uyeda (emitter), Toshio, Kaito, Miyo
Date: January 7, 2014
Summary:
A team is hired to guide a man with winter supplies to his cabin in the Miati forest due to the rise in bear activity.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Threat Level Bear"
Miati Forest
"Mama these woods, Papa this weather, and Baby this ass!"
Gansaku sits at the reigns of his wagon, cracking the leather in his hand and sending the donkey back into a walk. The capricious creature sometimes randomly got it into its head to simply stop moving and look back at him, as though asking him if they were really in such a rush. It had always been that way. And it was one of the reasons he'd decided to hire the shinobi team that'd come with him.
There'd been a sudden, unseasonable warmth this winter, bringing the bears out of their slumber. What it meant was that they weren't hibernating, but there still wasn't much food for them. So they were hungry, straying further from their usual territories, and making it very difficult to bring the supplies he'd bought to help get him through the snow storm he smelled on the air.
He grunted, studiously avoiding the eyes of the shinobi protection as they continued.
Toshio walks alongside it, looking it over and looking about the area before hmming as he writes somethings down before looking to those who traveled with him.
While Kaito is normally fine with taking time leisurely, this is getting a little old. Either this guy didn't train his donkey at all, or he's just not actually trained it to listen. He briefly considers putting this thing on a giant Sanbi Surfboard, but that would be a bit of a waste of chakra, considering he's got to have enough to protect this wagon if there is an attack of some sort. Of course, if he doesn't know how to train his freakin' animal, maybe he doesn't really have anything that important to move…
"So, what are you guys' favorite campfire songs?" he asks with a glance to Miyo then Toshio. "Looks like this trip may take all night."
+ Miyo, the cute kunoichi, was walking a few paces ahead and to the right of the ass and of course, the wagon. She had her hood pulled up to obscure her head and keep her ears warm, and as such had her lengthy ponytail pulled around and resting across her shoulder and chest. Her hands are stuffed within her sleeves to keep them warm as well, causing the girl to look a bit like a monk.
Gansaku lets out an indignant breath at Kaito's final comment, exasperation at these events only exacerbated by the words, whether they were meant as a snide comment or not. "Look, the thing belonged to my aunt before — It's just family, alright? I would've went alone if I could've bought a horse to replace it. You guys just happened to be cheaper." He sent a glance to Kaito before saying, "But if you're that worried about wasting the time I'm paying you for, maybe you should get up here and pull the wagon yourself," words gruff.
"I am afraid I dont have a good singing voice. My mom and grandfather always made me pass the time by pounding metal." Toshio says with a shrug and he hears the old man say pull it themselves, gives a snicker. "Thats exactly how my grandfather does things…Says that is what children is for: manual labor." He says as he goes to help pull the wagon.
Kaito looks up to Gansaku as he speaks, lifting the eyebrow of his single open eye, the other remaining closed as usual. At the final comment, a light grin comes to his face. "Very well," he says before walking over in front of the wagon to unhook the donkey and move it to the side of the wagon. Lifting a hand up to Toshio, he says, "Get on the back, kid. You too, Miyo. I've got this." He then brings his hands into a seal and leaps up, a surfboard of water appearing under him and then under the donkey to lift it up so it doesn't get hurt on this trip. Doubling the rope around, he ties the reigns through a set of handlebars that form onto the back of the surfboard as it floats at about the same height a horse would hold the reigns in its mouth. "You better hang on," he says, a sly smirk coming to his face as he prepares the rope, making sure it's tied well and won't snap.
+ Miyo turns around at the chatter behind her, pacing backwards and peering out from beneath her hood. She clears her throat softly before replying."Songs? While I have a good enough voice, I can't say I am familiar with any." The kunoichi then stops and watches Kaito unhook the donkey and raises an eyebrow before nodding to his request. She scoots over close to the wagon and then hops up onto the side, sitting upon the ledge. "Try not to break anything. Hehe…"
Gansaku scowls at Toshio as he makes his comment on child labor and then starts over to the wagon. "I'm not sure if you're being snotty or just daft, kid, but that wasn't a serious suggestion. You don't have to" His attention turns to Kaito as he starts disconnecting his donkey from the wagon. "What the… What are you—…?" And then he just sighs a great breath as the chuunin finishes his preparation as the wagon's new beast of burden. "You shinobi will be the death of me," he mutters to Miyo after her remark. But he put up no fight to the process.
Toshio nods as he gets behind the wagon and gets on the back. He then stands to try and watch what is going on. "So…what is that thing you got anyway?" He asks the chuunin as he seems to watch with curiousity.
Once the line is secure, Kaito would turn to look ahead at the path toward their destination. Rather than straight up taking off and breaking the line, he would begin slowly and starts to increase momentum gradually, starting out at the same speed the donkey was walking and slowly building to that of what a well-trained horse would run, and one might wonder if he's actually going to stop at that pace or keep building until they can barely hang on. "A surfboard," he answers Toshio simply.
+ As the kunoichi settles into her seat, Miyo digs inside of her robe a bit and pulls out a small book - something to keep her busy during the trip. With Kaito's water surfboard thing she believed they'd be moving quick enough that any pursuit or attempt to stop them would be obvious enough that they'd not be taken too unawares. At the same time, Miyo also figured anyone able to take them unawares in this situation would be far stronger than her. Before actually getting to her book, she turns to the wagon driver and gives him a little smile. Even though her eyes are mostly hidden by the hood, she does her best to address him personally. "You'll be fine. If you get close to falling off or something, I shall do my best to catch you."
Gansaku only sighs in response to the children, choosing to simply look straight ahead and hold tight to the reigns attached to the back of the surfboard. It seemed something of a foolhardy idea to him. But they were already moving, now. And… pretty swiftly, actually. If they were going to figure out how to stop one way or another, they may as well do it when they're at his cabin.
Toshio chuckles. "Well we are a landlocked nation, not much use for a surfboard." He says as he then looks to the water surfboards. "Water manipulation right?" He asks curiously as he studies it as if trying to figure it out.
"Yeah," Kaito says as he looks back to Toshi, giving a nod. As he looks back ahead, his eyes get large for a split second right before he is ripped up off the board and flies over the cart off his board. A loud cough comes from him before he hits the ground behind the cart. "Ow," he coughs out as he looks up at the sky then the cart. "On your guard! Someone's after the cart!"
+ Having snuggled into her position on the back of the cart, Miyo turns her back to the front to shield her book from the wind. It is then, just as she flips the first page that she hears a strange sound, and then sees Kaito smash into the ground behind the cart.
The Kunoichi quickly pushes herself up with her free hand, the other closing the book and stuffing it into her robes before she leaps off of the back of the cart, and plucks a longer kunai variant from her sleeve. "Well, I guess you can't transport things without being harassed… Don't die."
"What's going on?" shouts Gansaku as Kaito flips over him.
Before he could do anything else, a man lets out a muffled curse as they stumble over a root on their way out of the treeline, but he swiftly recovers, dashing right in front of the wagon. He is tall and somewhat sinewy, an unkempt beard matching his unkempt hair. His clothing doesn't quite seem warm enough for the winter months, though they would be fine in this warm spell. He has a weapon in his hand, a sword, the guard slightly rusted. He only managed the beginning out a shout before the wagon slammed into him, sending him crashing into the ground.
Gansaku began to turn to look back to what had happened to the man but only managed to catch the fact that the shinobi had ditched him on his runaway cart and the flash of black fur that suddenly burst out of the woods behind the man his cart had hit. The large bear slammed into the wagon, sending it crashing onto its side to skid forward, digging small trenches in the soil. The bear snuffed, shaking its head, only briefly stunned by the impact. Looking around, it let out a bellow of challenge to all around as a second rambled out of the trees behind it, maw already bloodied.
Toshio stands and remains with the cart so the shinobi didn't completely abandon the old man. When the bear crashes into the cart, Toshio acks as he goes flying and slams with the wagon. He then gets up, and tries to move between the bears and Gansaku. "Come on bears…this is my first mission and I dont wanna kill animals…" He mutters as he pulls out several kunai which look more unique then the ones the others had.
+ Upon landing, Miyo finds that Kaito appears to be out of the fight, whatever that may be. Without hesitation, the kunoichi rushes forward, hunkers down, scoops up the chuunin and throws him over her shoulder before hastily retreating towards the wagon, intent on flopping him inside of it. However, she then notices the bear… why was there a bear!?
Gansaku had been sent flying when the cart had been bowled over, his head narrowling missing a tree trunk but his shoulder making a painful landing on one of its roots. Dazed, hurting there, but trying to get himself under reign, he pulls himself up onto hands and knees. He shakes his head… looks over towards Kaito to see Miyo pick up the prone and seemingly unconscious chuunin, his own vision blurred. Toshio's voice makes him jump and it isn't until Miyo dashes past them that the fact that they're there fully hits him, and he gives a strangled grunt as he sees the nearer bear charge her to take a swipe with its heavy clawed paw.
"We've got to get out away from them…"
Toshio sighs as he flips the kunai and hurls the two at the bear which seems to not be attacking Miyo, that bear gets merely a glance and the forming of seals. "Katon: Firebolt no jutsu." He says before taking a breath and spitting out a fireball at it. "Mr. Gansaku, are you alright?" He asks, keeping his eyes on the bears.
+ Bears… it just had to be bears… Unfortunately for the Kunoichi, the bear did not appear to want her to go anywhere, and would much prefer mauling her to death. When it does just that, Miyo finds herself unable to dodge due to carrying Kaito and the mighty bear's powerful claw swipes the girl and knocks her down, causing Kaito to roll across the ground.
The hind bear snarled at Toshio and the downed man, stepping towards what it only sees as prey, the older and dazed man in particular. When the kunai come flying in towards it, it simply let out a roar and batted them out of the air, soon starting back in. But it hesitated as the fire sparked into being, taking a few wary steps away once embers flew from the back of the other bear on impact. And it stayed where it was for that moment.
The other bear turned away from Miyo to look to Toshio, though, as the firebolt hit it in the back. It seemed unphased by it, not even scorched, and it bellowed back at the boy. But it soon looked back to Miyo. This one seemed hungrier than the other, and completely unperturbed by the flames that hadn't quite managed to burn. It rushed in towards Miyo, looking to take hold of her mouth first and begin swinging her around.
Toshio begins reforming the seals, taking a breath. "Firebolt no jutsu." He says as he breathes out another ball of fire at the one trying to eat the old man. He then pulls out two shuriken, all his weapons seem to be handmade by someone not really mastered in crafting, but decent enough. He hurls then before he returns his attention on the bear infront of him, keeping himself between the bear and old man.
+ Perhaps it was Miyo's plan the entire time to have the bear grab her in its maw and give her a good shake in an attempt to kill her. However, despite the crushing strength of the bear's jaw, the kunoichi throws together a string of handseals before slapping it on either side of the head.
The wary bear that'd balked at the sparks flying off of the other bear's back only backpedaled further as Toshio sent fire its way, swiping at it with a paw and receiving only burns for its effort. Minor burns but burns nonetheless, and it was enough to see flame fearing creature turn heel and head off, deciding that there would be better meals with less kick to them.
But the one attacking Miyo seemed much more determined, managing to clamp down on a shoulder and starting to swing her about before two shuriken hit it in the back. One simply bounced off, not thrown well enough, but the other sunk into its fur, causing its mouth to open. It let go of Miyo brief but swiftly pushed its head back down to retake her only to have her hands strike it on the head before it reached her, the genin's chakra creating a seal on its head. Quickly the animal let out a confused groan of sorts as its energy was drained, body unable to move.
Toshio pants as the bear runs. "And stick with honey!" He yells after the bear before turning to see the second bear stunned. "We better hurry up and get the cart going before the seal wears off, Miyo-chan you are amazing." He says with a smile.
+ Miyo moves over to the cart and gives Toshio a brief nod. "Thanks." She then chucks Kaito into the cart in a not so gentle manner before she does the same, except more gently, with the wagon owner. "Well, we need to get the donkey harnessed up again or we wont be going anywhere."
The bear can only let out weak noises as the kids move back to the wagon. Fear and confusion were running through it, its body still unable to move. All it could do was stand there.
Gansaku, on the other hand, brushed off Miyo's hands as they went to lift him, saying, "I'm fine, I'm fine…" He only shook his head at the bear, amazed that two kids had managed to scare one off and… do whatever they did to the other. He got up himself, looking around for the donkey. He muttered a curse and set off to find where it might've bolted off to. It wasn't around here.
But looking off into the woods, he spotted it looking back at him with that stupid look on its face. "Yes, we're in a rush," he snapped, face flushed as he quick stepped over to the animal. He guided it back to find…
The bear was free of its bondage. It was moving again. But having already been weak from hunger, the draining of the seal proved to also absorb the fight it had left. Just like the first, this one turned and trundled off rather than to try and take a meal from the genin. So Gansaku let out a relieved sigh.
"Let's get the heck out of here."
