Starring:
Date: May 18th, 2010
Summary:
Rinako reveals her true power as she seeks vengeance for her sister! But will even this be enough?
"Scars - Three-Tails Unleashed!"
Land of Waves
Kara peeks over the edge of the rocks she is hiding behind, to make sure her timing is right. Pharaoh is nowhere to be seen. And neither is Rinako. Instead there's some huge beast thing that's growing huger (is that a word?) and beastier (that's not a word either, is it?)! It's also ugly, and radiating Chakra like 'whoah that's a lot of Chakra'. "Whoah, that's a lot of Chakra!" Kara announces to herself. Well, she knew Rinako was special… She had some kind of transformation and special powers… But she wasn't privy to all the details. No one had ever bothered to tell her. So it comes as a surprise that Rinako has apparently transformed into a mammoth, monstrous juggernaut of destruction, tromping and charging towards the lone figure out on that jutting strip of beach. Does Rinako even >need< Kara's help!? Well… From the way she's roaring and such, she may not be in full control. So Kara will have to keep an eye on her and hope that she can catch the enemy unawares. She doubts that a Jounin is going to just stand there and try to block a rampaging… Whatever-the-hell-that-is.
Her fingers continue to work her Chakra Strings, even though there is nothing in sight that she could be manipulating.
The man out on the beach is, indeed, Sheex. He's at full height, more than 6' tall, and a full adult instead of the somewhat younger man that the team fought in two locations at once. He has a huge mass of spiky black hair, down to mid-back, dark skin, and a one-eyed blindfold. He also wears a flack jacket and the hitai-ite of a Kumogakure ninja. He turns around to face Rinako as she charges, watching as she transforms into the Three-Tailed Beast. His eyes are wide, and a bead of sweat trickles down the side of his face. Fear? Not quite. He's smiling. The look he is giving the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle is one of HUNGER. Is he simply an overly-ambitious and incredibly arrogant ninja who doesn't realize the full scope of what he's facing? Or has Rinako made a huge mistake? We'll see shortly.
In the meantime, he leaps up into the air, draws a kunai from a pouch at his waist, and throws it. It has a string of five explosive tags tied to the handle, and it heads right for the Three-Tails's face. When they're close enough, whether the kunai itself does anything or not, the tags all go off in sequence, causing five explosions. Will this have any effect on the thick hide of the Three-Tails?
Ruri arrives at the beach, about a block east of where Kara and Rinako arrived. She doesn't know for certain where Ranken or Sheex is located… But she can make a good guess. "…." She remains in stunned silence as she sees the massive monster that is taking huge strides, closing the distance between itself and a familiar figure. "…Dammit, Rinako. You said you had it under control." She curses herself for not working harder on her research. She should have freed her sister from this curse a long time ago. Now, to her eyes at least, she had run out of time. She had lost her eye, she had lost her sister… And a lot of people could lose their lives if this shitty monster isn't taken down fast. Does she have the ability to take it down? Doubtful.
As a series of explosions go off up ahead, and Kara is nowhere to be seen, Ruri realizes it doesn't matter. Because it's on her shoulders now. She'll have to do whatever she can to bring her sister back. She starts to run across the street, out onto the sand.
The massive amount of Chakra radiating from the north and the tremors in the earth as a gigantic creature stomps around should be enough for Shemri to find her way to the same beach that everyone else is at. The real question here is why haven't the Kumogakure ninja intervened yet? The ones at the battle-site were just the results of a Genjutsu tag. Where are the real ninja?
The three-tailed turtle doesn't even slow down as the tags begin heading for it, aimed right for the creature's head, seemingly having either no heed for it's own safety, or is overly confident that it cannot be hurt by the small knife-like things which are flung at it. The kunai fail to find purchase, but the tags explode just the same, wreathing the creature's head in smoke and flame, causing it to slide to a stop on it's feet, it's trunk-like legs digging into the sand beneath it.
There's a slow, steady rumble from the beast, before the water from the nearby ocean begins to creep up it's legs, swirling around like vines before gathering and collecting at it's wide-open mouth, seen now that the wind takes the smoke away to be… all but unharmed!
The water gathers, condenses, raw chakra forming it into a solid object, growing larger and larger, before finally discharging with a feral roar!
The large glob of water is spat right for the male's center mass, aimed towards his chest since he'd moved up into the air, out of convenient smashing range. But in it's shadow is hidden another, smaller condense ball of the same material. It seems the creature that had taken over wasn't completely without the higher strategies of it's host!
The question of where all the Kumo nin got to isn't lost on Shemri, though there isn't much she can do about it. Option A: go wandering around town trying to find Kumo ninja to ask them why they didn't show up at their questionable brawl. Option B: go rejoin the rest of the team as they likely face a deadly foe who is also the target of their mission. You do the math. :P Hence, Shemri and Shiikaa make their way fairly straight to the beach, where they find…an even bigger problem than before. o.O; "Hoi! What is going on now?!" Shemri calls out, trying to take in the situation.
Kara can see and hear the explosions go off from where she is, as the loud roars of the Three-Tails resound throughout the town and out across the ocean. She wouldn't be surprised if half the Land of Waves knew something was up at this point. If not the sound and shaking of the ground, then the Chakra is nearly palpable in the air. She tries to maintain focus, but this is scaring her. She hasn't been really, truly scared since that S-Rank mission… The one where half her team was killed.
But thinking about that reminds her of what she lost. She survived that mission, but she lost two friends. Two people who >loved< her. Is she going to let that happen again? Not freaking likely. So she sends a sudden surge of Chakra through her Chakra Strings, and Pharaoh erupts from the beach all the way out near the ocean. Sand goes flying as the Puppet's torso wriggles its way out of the ground. Then his head tilts back, his mouth opens wide with a dry crack, and he unleashes a swarm of locust-like insects that buzz and click and chitter as they fly upwards in a cloud. The insects attempt to surround the bad guy and start eating him alive. If Rinako's attacks fail to land for some reason, maybe this attack will succeed instead! …Or vice versa! "Pharaoh-10: Plague of Locusts," Kara mutters.
Sheex was not really expecting the explosive tags to do damage. He was just testing to see what kinds of defenses there are, as a matter of precaution. However, when the Three-Tails's Jinchuuriki counter-attacks, he grunts in surprise and attempts to block the incoming water sphere but it slams into him hard, sending him flying backwards. He is then hit by the second water attack on the way down, as it continues forward. He lands out on the ocean, standing there with his Chakra flowing from his feet.
Despite the powerful impacts he does not seem too much worse for wear. Perhaps a bit sore, and definitely very soaked, but not dead. The insects that come swarming in are completely unexpected. He was aware of Pharaoh tunneling through the beach to come close to him, but he stopped focusing on the Puppet when he was attacked. Big mistake. Now he's getting swarmed by bugs that are tearing at his flesh, on top of being disgusting. He swings his arms at them, draws a kunai and tries to slash them out of the air, but he is clearly not Yakushi Kabuto, and he is not going to be nailing every locust in his vicinity without ever being touched. He lunges out of the cloud of locusts, though some doubtless cling to him, continuing feed on his flesh.
"Spirit Release: Blade of Severing!" he calls out as he makes handseals quickly, and then swings his right hand down in a chop-like motion. The sea splits in half like Sheex is freaking Moses or something, and then some invisible object attempts to slam into Pharaoh and cut off his connection to Kara. Then he turns his focus back on the Three-Tails incarnate that is taking up so much of the background. "It's a good thing I know how to use Ninjutsu without Chakra… Because I get the feeling I'm going to need all the Chakra I've got to follow through with my plan."
Is he seriously monologuing to a Tailed Beast? Well, there's a person inside the beast somewhere, but she's probably so far beyond caring it's not even funny. Either way, he takes in a deep breath - is he breathing heavily already? - and lets it out. "Spirit Summoning: Mountain of Flesh!" Then, the ocean begins to churn and the beach begins to rumble. The waves rise higher and higher, and then a mass of some kind rises from the water. The water sluices off of it, revealing its appearance, though not necessarily its nature.
It APPEARS to be what Sheex yelled out. A mountain of flesh. It's a huge mass of purple-red skin, pulsating and twitching and looking gross as hell, like someone peeled the flesh off a giant and dumped it in a pile. What exactly does Sheex intend to do with this thing!? He is standing on top of it, and his hands are locked together in an Earth-style hand seal. He falls to one knee, however, breathing hard, one eye closed as though he is wincing in pain. His Chakra hasn't decreased at all since the battle started. It seems there's a price for using Ninjutsu without Chakra. Maybe his own life, for instance.
He makes no further attacks yet.
Ruri leaps up from the beach and attempts to land on the monster's shell. If successful, she hops from spot to spot, before landing just above and behind the Three-Tails's head. Before she can do anything, however, the mountain of bodiless flesh rises from the ocean. "…What the fuck." she says. Not really a question, just a statement of disbelief and confusion. Shaking her head to clear it, she says, "No way is this jerk going to get away with whatever he's planning." She thus takes off her swimsuit top and-NO WAIT, THERE'S A REASON FOR THIS. She has a Flesh Scroll tatoo on her chest! A special one. She concentrates and activates it with both hands. It turns bright green, glowing, and sending out flames of invisible Chakra across her body. The energy within the tattoo fills her being, swirling out into her Chakra Network, and making her stronger. Tougher. And a lot more determined. She mutters, "Okay, Mumbles. Time to die."
She then starts activating Flesh Scroll tattoos three at a time, attacking with a harpoon, a cannonball, and a searing stream of flames, all at once. All at aimed at Sheex.
By this point, Shemri is there and seeing what's going on. There's a giant turtle-thing on the loose, Ruri just jumped up onto it, Kara is nowhere in sight, and there's a hideous pile of mystery meat sitting in the ocean. It is totally obvious what's going on! …No, really!
There was a nuisance on it's back! As if in lazy annoyance, the way an animal would to a fly that had just decided to perch on it's flanks, one of those long, spike-ended tails lashes out softly at Ruri. Though the Tailed Beast's definition of 'softly' isn't exactly what a human would consider soft!
And then the male is in the water, or rather, on top of it, the barely-tamed bijuu beginning to step deeper into the surf. Rinako's sister had better get a tight grip and take a deep breath if she planned to keep her perch!
Once in the water, the tailed beast begins to move again… very quickly. The thing submerges wholly, and no matter how the water churns, it's movements become graceful, cutting through like an arrow through the air, diving deeper and deeper as the mountain of flesh continues to rise high out of the water, until it's thick legs impact the soft bottom sand below the waves. It crouches, angling itself upward, chakra-muscles bunching as if preparing to launch.
And that's exactly what the creature does.
Pushing off violently from the ocean floor, the thing-that-was-Rinako shoots through the water with incredible speed, flying out of it like a fish leaping for a fly, it's sturdy, midnight claws leading, waiting, seeking to crush the male beneath it's massive forelimbs, right into that disgusting mound of flesh if need be.
Nobody ever answers questions. >.<; Not that Shemri can blame them under the circumstances; Kara's tunneling with Pharoah, Ruri's riding a giant turtle-thing, and Rinako-say, where is she? c.c Another question that'll go unanswered for a while, doubtless. u.u Oh well! Scoping out the situation as best she can, Shemri decides the best course of action is similar to the one Kara took: attack the target they /know/ is an enemy from range. Hence, Shemri…hurls a couple shuriken at Sheex. Gosh-darn tiny scavenged armory. :/ And, um, apparently pretty insignificant compared to the impending jaw-crushery of the turtle-thing. c.c Does this means it's on their side?
Kara grins as she sees all three attacks connect. "Yesss! Team Ruri strikes again!-Hey where is Ruri-chan?-You go, girl! …Turtle! …Thing." She scratches her head, then shrugs and begins to dance. "Go, Rinako! Go, Rinako! It's your birthday! Go, go, go!" It's a good thing that Rinako has other things to focus on than a noisy kunoichi. Otherwise Kara would be squished!
Then Sheex slashes his hand at the air, and the sea begins to part in two huge walls of water! Something is obviously coming. And it's aimed right at… "Rand-I mean Pharaoh-kun! Sudden Burial!" She sends Chakra through the Chakra Strings, and causes Pharaoh to sink into the sand again, his drill-equipped feet sending him far enough under the ground that he won't suffer from the 'Blade of Severing', whatever that is!
She has never heard of 'Spirit Release' before… Anyway, she was told not to hold back by Rinako before she transformed. But she was also told to keep her distance… So when that ugly heap of ugly pops up, she determines it's time to do as Rinako said and stop holding back.
"Pharaoh-4: Plague of Blood!" she yells out as Pharaoh erupts from the beach again and goes hurtling through the air. He then sprays a huge volume of that red oil all over the Mountain of Flesh, drawing lines of the substance all up and down the side of the grosstastic thing.
"Pharaoh-11: Pharaoh's Decree!" Kara yells, and then a flamethrower protrudes from Pharaoh's mouth as he descends from his Chakra-propelled leap. A flame flicks on at the tip. It then streaks across the ocean, right towards the summoned whateverthatis. Kara finishes by yelling, "Pharaoh-20: PHARAOH'S JUDGEMENT!!!" The flames touch the 'blood' oil.
Immediately a HUGE explosion goes off, as the flames spread all over the mountain, following the trails of oil and causing explosion after explosion! Whatever Sheex intended to use the Mountain of Flesh for… It's probably not going to work now! …Hopefully!
Sheex is busy concentrating all his Chakra, using that Earth-style seal. Earth-style… What Water is weak against. That's probably not good. Luckily no one is letting up on Sheex as he stands out on his summon in the distance. Even Shemri is helping! …Sort of. She should probably get a bit closer before throwing stuff. …Unless she's SUPER STRONG!?!?!!? Well, anyway, Sheex manages to avoid the cannonball, but the harpoon impales him right through the stomach and sticks out the other side. The fire stream then engulfs him, setting him to screaming in pain. And still he doesn't stop focusing his Chakra. When the Three-Tails comes surging out of the turbulent waters, however, the Mountain of Flesh reacts! It quivers for a moment, and dozens of thick tentacles stretch out from the mountain, wrapping around the flying turtle and trying to reduce its momentum. It doesn't quite work, however, and the Tailed Beast lands on the top of the mountain, seemingly crushing Sheex into his own summon.
The tentacles don't stop though. They just keep multiplying, and trying to wrap around the massive girth of the Three-Tails. And then they start trying to drain the Giant Turtle's Chakra. Kara spreading oil and fire and explosions across the Mountain's surface helps in disrupting this process, but even when there are huge holes of charred flesh left behind, they begin to regenerate almost immediately, bulging, throbbing, and then exploding outwards to fill the empty space… And grow beyond.
The mountain begins to grow a huge protrusion from the side facing the ocean, as more and more tendrils of flesh try to ensnare the Tailed Beast. The protrusion gradually takes on the shape of a head… And then a face. Sheex's face. Where his right eye should be is smoothed over, but the rest of his face looks the same as his crushed body. Shemri's shuriken somehow manage to reach across the beach and the waves and strike the mountain, but though they stick in the flesh, the flesh grows OVER the two throwing stars.
The Sheex-face opens its grinning mouth and begins to laugh, in a nearly insane manner. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stupid beast! I told you, didn't I? I told you how stupid you were! And yet you followed my plan exactly! And now… Now I will inhabit your body and obtain the power of a Bijuu for myself!" Two massive tentacles of blistered, purple-red flesh grow from the sides of the Sheex-Mountain. Though blunt at first, their tips begin to split and thicken further, until they have turned into talon-like protrusions. These begin to slowly curve inwards, towards the Three-Tails. Whatever they're for is likely not good.
Before all that, Rinako stopped watching as the man who took her eye was impaled and burned, and instead jerked her head up. Looking above her, she was just in time to see one of the tails swinging down at her. A wall appeared from a Flesh Scroll tattoo, and blocked the tail strike - though likely not very hard by Tailed Beast standards, it would have taken her out of the fight for sure. Before she can do anything else, Rinako is on the move! She has to hang onto her wall and hold her breath as her giant-sized turtle-sister went swimming at high speed. When they go hurtling through the air and land on the mountain, apparently crushing Sheex, Ruri lets out a shuddering sigh of relief. "Okay… Time to get my sister back-"
But then she witnesses the horror of this Mountain of Flesh. It seems that Sheex has… Merged with it!? "What kind of…" she starts as two more huge tentacles come out of nowhere. "What kind of horrible Summon IS this!?" she screeches. Then she notices how the mountain is regenerating and growing behind its original boundaries whenever it is damaged. She doesn't know if this thing can actually hold a Tailed Beast, but she has an idea to make sure she never has to find out. She turns around and yells back towards the beach at the top of her lungs, "KARA, KEEP BURNING IT!" Then she turns back to face… The face. "Idiot. Think you're so smart. Well, maybe you're clever. Maybe you planned this all out! But you're underestimating ME, you're underestimating my TEAM, and you're UNDERESTIMATING MY SISTER!" She then leaps off the back of Rina-Turtle and lets loose with two more blasts of fire right in Sheex-Mountain's face. She really hopes this works. And further, she hopes that her confidence in her sister isn't unfounded.
Even as those viscious dark claws crush Sheex into the side of the flesh-mountain, they then grip it tightly, preventing the beast from falling off of the side, it's hind legs and tails digging into and anchoring it to the lip of the steep drop-off, like King-Kong clinging to the side of the Empire State Building.
If Rinako, or the bijuu, understood what the heck Sheex was talking about, she didn't show it with either speech or mannerisms. Another wail of outrage comes from the tailed beast, though it's different this time, higher, piercing, ear-shattering, and maybe a little disorienting. Chakra is imbued in the soundwaves, though the keening pitch is focued, directed at the face of flesh, only registering as a very loud, very aggravating song to the rest of the world.
The tentacles which come for to wrap around her are met with the chakra-creature's front clothes, batting them aside large and small alike, large forearms turning away the questing bands, claws shredding through the soft flesh. Rinako goes berserk, ceasing to plan her attacks, instead, simply DIGGING IN like a fat kid at dinner.
Toothless maw, claws, even the one tail that isn't latching her to the side of the mountain, is used to tear into the horrible, probably foul-smelling wet surface.
Shemri watches the fighting as she and Shiikaa dash closer. Direct hits with the shuriken! …For all the good they do. :P Shemri listens in on the orders Ruri yells to Kara. So, fire is looking like a good bet, is it? Shemri looks down at her cat. "I believe you can do the most good here, Shiikaa. Let him have it!" Shiikaa, who has been gathering up his chakra for just such a moment, nods and inhales. Several small balls of wind chakra shoot out in succession. Not very useful on their own against that mass of flesh, maybe, but where they make contact with Kara's flame attacks, they cause little eruptions of intensely magnified heat.
Kara frowns as the mountain heals the grievous damage done to it. It looks like the damned thing is going to be trouble… Especially when it grows a Sheex-face out of itself! "Wha-He wants to steal Rinako's body!? That's… Weird! And evil! But mostly weird!" Ruri's shouts are heard, dimly. "What!? Chop-sooey pancakes!?! This is hardly the time!" She shrugs, though, and has Pharaoh fire off another Pharaoh's Judgement at the Sheex-Mountain. And then a SECOND one! It's a bit dangerous to be setting off so many massive fireballs when a team mate is sitting on top of what's being shot at, but Kara is sure Rinako can handle it. She hasn't been hurt by anything so far. What's a little B-Rank between friends, eh? Winkwink, nudgenudge.
As fire blooms everywhere on the Mountain of Flesh, Kara just hopes she's not spending all this Chakra on nothing. But since when has Ruri ever shown herself to be dumb enough to order something drastic like this without a plan? Never! So she'll have to have confidence in the team leader, and the rest of the team! That's how they'll get through this.
And then those wind balls hit the fire that Kara is spreading. Uh-oh. That might be a bit >too< hot for a turtle. D:-Oh, right! Confidence! Kara never doubted for a second! Nope!
