Starring:
Date: february 11, 2016
Summary:
In order to cull the uptick in piracy, the team sets up a bait ship and use the opportunity to strike a devastating blow to an aggressive pirate band.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Trap Ahoy"
The sea between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Snow
The mission was about as cut and dry as the paper and ink it was issued
on. The idea was simple enough. The Daimyo of the Land of Snow was rumored to
be making a diplomatic visit to the Lightning Daimyo with the goal of brokering
an alliance to strike down the uptick in piracy happening in the waters between
the two countries. Such a visit would require protection from both villages to
ensure the safety of the Daimyo. Careful coordination between two countries for
one common goal. This mission wasn't that mission. This mission was to set a
trap for any ne'er-do-wells who might have caught wind of the visit. The time of
the Daimyo's visit as well as his route were all highly classified, but it
could be assumed that pirates throughout the area might try to make a move on
any ship that they believed to be the target.
The group would find themselves a part of this force. Various 'leaks'
might lead anyone with malintent to make a move on a certain vessel waving a
certain flag. Should they take the bait they'd only find a force of seasoned
sailors, combatants, and a few good shinobi reason to strike them down for
their folly. A small fleet of escorting ships would surround the elegant in
appearance vessel known as the "Sawfish". As the bait this ship's route would
take it through an area known to be littered with small clusters of tiny
islands, typically avoided by normal traffic but for this mission they'd be
perfect should a pirate desire to ambush an unsuspecting vessel. As the sun set
came and the natural light died, the moon would illuminate the ships making
their way through the water. At this point the team would find themselves in a
position they might not be used to…waiting eagerly to be attacked.
Reza would sit on a stool in dining room of the ship taking time to
rewrap bandages around his arms and ensuring the security of his mission gear
which consisted of a hooded undershirt and the standard issue Kumo flak vest.
Whistling a nice sea-worthy tune he'd never take his eyes from his wrappings.
"I swear. The best part is the wait." He'd comment sarcastically.
Wow! The water! Sakuya had worked on the docks for quite a while now
with Arashi, and had seen many a ship pull in and pull out. Sakuya wore the
very same thing that she wears when she does dock work, and that was a simple
T-shirt and shorts tied with a single sash as well as shoes and the like. Why,
it made her look like a little boy to her distaste. Zuzu was with her in
spirit, for he was clearly wrapped around her waist underneath the shirt,
sleeping softly. Neither of them expected that any pirate group would be stupid
enough to attack them. After all, they were supposedly safe in numbers. At the
moment it seemed like they were being escorted by various other vessels.
Sakuya would walk up to Reza, saluting him. He appeared to be in
charge, and she had yet to really report in. "Hey, Reza." No… 'Reza-sama' or
anything like that. She saluted, but her tone was casual. She never thought of
the Hizumu as a very serious person. "So, what are we expecting? Happy little
bandits with little swords and big egos?" She asks. Suddenly, she scratches the
side of her face. "Oh, sorry. pirates. That's what you call water-faring
bandits…" Same difference to her. Now, if there were any shinobi on board
their ships… That would be exciting!
Michiko would be on that ship. The girl would sort of look around,
considering. Sadly, she can't see much with her usual senses. She can only tell
where people are on the boat. "I hate being on the water…" she mutters, not
for the first time. The girl would move to check on Reza and Sakuya. "Reza-san,
when do you think the Pirates would attack us?" she asks, eyeing the front of
the ship as if she expects something bad to happen any moment now. Then her
gaze is on Sakuya, who had suddenly piped up. "Sakuya-san, you need to take
this a bit more seriously," Michiko would say.
Reza would smirk. "Well the difference between pirates and
bandits…Pirates actually have pretty marketable skills." Finishing his
wrappings up he'd crack his knuckles and yawn. "Some pirates actually get smart
enough to offer their services in more legitimate business ventures." Looking
towards Michiko he'd nod. "What's the flipside of a fish out of water? You get
used to it. Trust me." Reza knew his words would probably sound empty
considering half his skillset required large quantities of water but it's the
thought that counts.
It wouldn't be much longer when the quiet tension was broken by the
sounds of cannons-fire sounding off. Calls from the ship's deck could be heard
as the crew members call back and forth between each other setting up their
counter-offensive. The setup couldn't be better…for the pirates. Cannons
lined the shores of the islands allowing them roughly clear shots towards the
fleet, small maneuverable ships would flank the fleet to keep the hope of
escape small. This formation was luckily accounted for. The cannons would
riddle the front ships with holes only to find that the crew had already
evacuated and the ship itself cheaper and good for little else than sturdy
shields. The flanking ships would move quickly to board the fleets rear. They
would wish they had found empty ships as boats filled with gun powder would be
ignited and be the exciting conclusion to many of the small boats. With the
element of suprise utilized by both parties what remained would be the cannons
which had yet let up their fire from the shore and flanking boats still looking
to clash though alot more reserved after what they've seen. The pirates have at
this point realized the trap they've fallen for but it's too late to withdraw
now.
"Michiko-sensei. You're too serious. Life is far too short to be formal
and serious!" Sakuya turns and moves over to the Jounin. She would place her
hands on her hip, looking up to Michiko. "What do you call a fish with no
eyes?" She asks Michiko, pausing a moment as the sides of her lips curl up a
little bit. She would then close her eyes and state the punchline of the joke.
A fish with no… 'I's. … … "FSSSSHHHH!" She makes that sound and chuckles.
"Funny, right? I never see you smile, Michiko-sensei… I never see Yori smile
either. If being a shinobi is excising any sense of humor from you, then I
guess I'm staying a genin!" She giggles a little.
Of course the sound of cannon fire cause the snake to go on alert.
Immediately, she drops down to the floor upon her hands and knees, staying low
as she assesses the situation. "Hizumu Reza." She looked to the Jounin and knew
that his place was fighting on the boat. He could handle the smaller ships that
were circling them. At the same time, off in the distance, the artillery
embankment on the shore was more dangerous to them than the pirates circling
them. Sakuya goes through the reasoning in her head. The smaller boats have
people on them, people that are untrained non-shinobi combatants whose purpose
isn't to directly assault, but to keep their fleet at bay. Though many of those
ships are already sunk thanks to the fact that they also had ships filled with
gunpowder that promptly exploded, there were still a few. They weren't as
dangerous as the cannons, because the pirates on the shore could easily tilt
the cannons at a higher angle, and shoot up to bypass the ships that were
sturdy and acted as shields, which would then cause canon-balls to come
crashing in through the decks from the sky. "Michiko-sensei, we need to get to
that shoreline and disable their long ranged weapons. We'll be sunk if they
keep firing on us. Reza can handle boats, he's got skill in water ninjutsu."
She was going, and no one was going to stop her, because she could walk on
water. She hopes to have back-up, but she is taking action to prevent what she
sees as the greatest threat.
"Hmmm… I'm not sure," Michiko says with a light shrug towards Reza.
"Something … drowning… Yeah, I'm not sure." She chuckles just a bit before
her gaze cuts to Sakuya. …. *cringe* That joke -.-; The girl would just raise
a brow at her teammate and shake her head ever-so-slightly to show her
disapproval. Then *BOOM* go the cannons, and Michiko would look sharply towards
the shore before rocking just a bit as the ship was getting fired upon. "Hai,"
is all she tells Sakuya, making a few handseals to gather chakra. Then she
would run towards the back of the ship, aiming a huge wind-filled kick at the
smaller boats before unleashing a wave of fire upon all of them while she
landed, kicking up a bit of water before she flickers away towards the shore.
Hopefully Sakuya can work on her own a bit while Michiko catches up.
Michiko's attack would buy the team enough time to get into position
without having to worry about them for a time. The cannoneers on the other hand
would continue their barrage altering their trajectory hoping to get closer to
their mark. The attackers at the flank would calm their assault for a moment as
the remaining small boats took in the pirates who were forced to abandon their
ships due to Michiko's assault. As the canon's continue firing with Michiko and
Sakuya taking lead towards the shore, Reza would stay behind to handle the
small boats and defend against what cannon fire he could. On the shore with
Sakuya arriving first she'd find a little over a dozen pirates manning the
cannons. Within this dozen or so, she'd find a man who was clearly the one in
command. Armed with a spear and dressed in the rags of nobility. This man was
clearly one who had lived the lifestyle of piracy for quite sometime and with
some level of reward, which would explain the brazeness of the attack and the
nature of their tactics. His attention remained on the action at sea as his
temper flared. "Dammit. I knew this was too good to be true. I be damned if I'm
played for a fool! Keep firing, if there's no loot then we'll leave with
corpses!" The pirate would order at the top of his lungs. As Sakuya touched
shore a number of pirates would cease manning the cannons and move to cover
their mates. Armed with swords and lower level water ninjutsu they'd mount an
assault on the girl comprised of sword strikes and supported with blasts of
water. Michiko would meet the same sort of resistance. The leader would
continue barking orders over the cannons before he too took notice of the new
appearances. "Take them down quick, we won't be embarrassed today!"
Sakuya would easily be able to evade the cutlasses, for fighting toe to
toe with simple-minded swordsman was easy for Sakuya. It's when the jutsu
appear is when she gets hit, as a water pressure burst sends her skidding back
into the water. That was not going to happen again. "Zuzu, it's staff time."
… No response. "Zuzu… IT'S STAFF TIME!" Time to be used as a blunt
instrument of attack. Zuzu lazily slides out of Sakuya's clothing and
straightens out in her hand as a staff, a Khakkhara specifically. Sakuya goes
into serious mode already! As she charges back in to the fray, her eyes would
attempt to freeze one of the individuals in place with her eyes, causing him to
remain in a state of shock as she brings the blunt end of her weapon into the
man's chin. The staff would partially unform as Zuzu attempts to latch his
fangs onto the man's neck and inject a hearty dose of venom before reforming
into the solid-iron looking staff she had. One down, and now she was serious.
Sakuya wasn't kidding around anymore. «You got hit, hehehe. What a genin…»
Zuzu says, just to add insult to Sakuya's slight injury.
Michiko would arrive quickly to help Sakuya, skidding a bit to a halt.
By the looks of it, a lot of the pirates here were all grouped together. How
convenient. That being said, the decided to try and attack her -.-; Dang
bandits. The girl would raise a hand to block one of the attacks with ease.
Sword clanged against armor and rang across the battlefield. "Hmm… Rude," she
would comment before she saw water incoming. A metal dome would rise up from
the earth and shield Michiko from it while she leapt up and spun in the air to
push down a wave of wind to force enemies to kneel. They might also find the
ground was particularly soft and eager to suck the bandits up… After all,
Michiko wasn't feeling very kind.
Reza would form several seals before a wall of water would surround the
Daimyo's ship from the cannonball assault. Taking a deep breath afterwards he'd
turn his sights on the flank ships finally getting their rally. Reza would
focus his chakra and prepare to take them head on especially with all the
commotion on shore pulling more and more cannoneers from their weapon to handle
the Sakuya Michiko menace. Sakuya's assault to clock several cannoneers. As
the eyes of the snake lock on one they'd freeze in place before taking a snake
to the face. And the poor mouse that received the snake's bite would cry in
utter agony as they crumpled to the ground and attempted to crawl away.
Michiko's wind would force several pirates to kneel before their mistress
overlord. Those who escaped would quickly rush to try to counter attack only to
find that they, like their brothers who kneeled, were sinking into the earth.
Their cries for mercy were unceasing as the earth secured them in it's embrace.
The pirate leader would witness what was taking place and roar in rage. "THATS
IT! NOW YOU'LL TASTE MY HEAT!!" His own rage and hubris blinding him to the
idea of surrendering and seeking leniency. Taking a deep breath the pirate
would form the seals need to form a massive fireball aimed right for Michiko.
Following the fireball he'd leap into action aiming to stop Michiko from
culling the rest of his men. The men around Sakuya would be reinvigorated by
their leader's action. Their claymores would ring out with their slashes once
more hoping to dice the girl to pieces. The pirate leader would howl. "BECOME
THE NEXT CONQUEST OF!" His men taking charge would finish his sentence.
"MEFYSTO!"
The Cannoneers were coming after Sakuya, despite witnessing Michiko
wipe their kind around with powerful techniques. Sakuya appeared to be against
three Cannoneers at the moment, each using a cutlass. Terrible choice, but she
guesses they couldn't find a proper oriental blade to fight with. The
cumbersome blades aren't entirely too hard to roll under, sidestep, and even
jump over. Sakuya's retaliation was to knock each one of them to their knees.
Sakuya would strike the first with her Zuzu rod, tripping him up, before
throwing Zuzu at the next one. That is, drawing Zuzu back behind her and
letting the snake launch from her with the combined force of her throw and the
snake's build up potential energy after the snake had coiled up beneath the
henge he has been using. That would 100% hit, she bets.
Michiko would have a lot of warning, apparently, because the man was
shouting. The dome she had made earlier would be ducked behind and closed
thoroughly so that Michiko didn't have to withstand the flames. Once they were
done, Michiko would take a few moments to gather her chakra, then she sent out
a number of kunai with wire attached. A few handseals later, the men would be
roasting, and Michiko would have binds of metal following after the main
baddie. "Keep distracting him, Sakuya-san…" she murmurs quietly to herself…
There's no safe bets…but this one was solid as Sakuya's attacks
landed true tripping her foes before the coiled snake sends the next foe to the
ground sliding. It was then that the wired kunai would envelope the cannoneers
before Michiko's flame roasted them tender. The last breaths of life would
escape them as they fell the only ones surviving being those knocked
unconscious by Sakuya's attacks. Mefysto would watch and only grow angrier and
redder before he was forced to defend his own life. The pirate would leap and
flicker from the reach of Michiko's metal bindings before howling at the top of
his lungs. "My men!" Landing some feet away he'd slam his fist into the ground
before howling again. Suddenly a calm overtook the man as he took a deep
breath. "I'll slow roast you both for this….you'll feel the full length of my
fury!" With that he'd position his spear in front of him before forming a seal
one handedly and pouring his chakra into his spear's tip he'd slash towards
Sakukya's location forming a slash of fire hurling towards her. "Fire Style:
Rump Roasting!" With a bit of a flourish he'd tuck himself in and dip low
before aiming towards Michiko. "Fire Style: Passion Fruit Flame Stab!" Charging
straight for Michiko his spear would ignite with fire before suddenly his whole
body barreled forward engulfed in a flame, seemingly flying, straight for
Michiko.
Reza would focus his chakra as the small boats on his end closed the
distance. Forming the proper set of seals he'd seek to end his side of things
sooner rather than later. It was with that several lasers would fly from his
hands each poised to put a hole or damage each small boat aiming to sink the
men and leave them at the mercy of the water and the superior sailors.
It seemed that even before he fired the cooking spit at Sakuya, he
might have already been influenced by Sakuya. It seems since many of the
bandits were gone, or missing, that Sakuya was given the chance to take
priority against the head honcho. The spare of flame would sink into Sakuya,
and it seemed as if she was killed at first. Sadly, the shinobi assumed dead
merely turned into a lot of tiny little snakes and slithered away unharmed.
Well. If that wasn't Sakuya where was she?
Sakuya was attempting to turn the enemy's own weapons against them.
While Michiko was distracting the main baddy, Sakuya had rushed up to a cannon.
I'm a snake!» … »Excuses! You know how to henge. Do so!« Henge doesn't
mean Zuzu will be especially useful, but he does anyways. Henging into an
almost polar oppositely colored Sakuya, clothes-wise, he would take the form of
something clearly she. »You said you'd stop henging into a girl!« … «Maybe
inside, I am one. Quick, let's do this already, fool! Stop being distracted by
stupid things.» Sakuya, with henged Zuzu's help, would begin to quickly turn
the cannon towards Mefysto. A cannon ball would hit a lot harder than any of
her techniques would, but accuracy was an issue. That is why Zuzu, with his
great perception, would handle the fine details of aiming the cannon.
Meanwhile, Sakuya made sure it was loaded before running to the back of it.
"Zuzu, are we aimed!?" … "Almost ready!" Called his… girly… voice?
Whatever. Either way, it took a few seconds to line up the shot, but once she
got it aimed she took out her shinobi tool used to start fires and hit the
fuse…
Cannon fire! Like a true salty dog, but she wasn't Inuzuka!
Michiko doesn't really know what Sakuya is planning. She can feel the
snake and … the other snake… poking around at the cannons that were nearby,
but she was mostly focusing on trying to avoid the incoming blast of fire that
she didn't really want to be hit by. Sadly, fate had other things in mind v.v
Michiko would end up pretty badly burnt, and a lot of her clothes were on fire
now. Good thing she has on armor beneath her clothes! Said armor gets a bit of
chakra flowing through it at this point in the battle, as Michiko is intending
to speed herself up a bit… The girl would make a few handseals, metal
shooting out of the ground to try and grab the main baddie so that perhaps
Sakuya's cannon could hit him :D
With the Laser Circus hitting it's mark the flanking boats were in all
manner of disarray. Taking a deep breath Reza would set his sights on the
shore.
The flaming pirate howled with excitement as his flames kissed the
jounin Michiko. His rage and excitement had caused him to tunnel vision on what
he felt was the biggest threat. Raising his spear to the sky he'd call forth a
fearsome flame. "It's time to end this! With this my final technique!" Twirling
the spear above his head would create a fiery twister. "Fire Style: 1000 Suns
Burning Hot Passion!" With that he'd focus the twister into the very tip of the
spear before charging directly towards Michiko with his full speed. It was at
this moment he heard the fire from the cannon ball. "Wait What!?" As the
cannonball rushed towards him he turned with the intent to deflect it only to
find himself bound my Michiko's metal. The cannonball would smash into
Mefysto's chest forcing blood and breathe from his mouth. A testament to the
man's resilience as he held his grip tight on his spear tho his jutsu long
since phasing out. Still trapped in the bindings he'd struggle but only for a
moment before realizing his energy was best spent simply breathing. Beneath his
noble rags a very visible crater would show that the impact of the cannonball
was dead center. Drooling blood he'd growl before simply hanging his headlow.
"I su…suuuurreeenn…deee" His body simply couldn't handle the damage,
shutting itself down as he lost consciousness. With the flank ships down, many
of the pirates were being rounded up by the sailors. The pirates on the shore
were either burnt to a crisp, sealed in mud, or unconscious from being beaten
in the face by a snake. It would be at this time that a secondary fleet would
soon arrive to take up the crew that had ridden on one of the decoy ships. The
mission could definitely be considered a success especially with the number of
pirates still living and available for indepth questioning.
Reza would land on the shore and simply frown. "Oh man…looks like I
missed all the fun stuff over here." Sighing heavily
<Weather> A cold wind blows from the south, though it's not enough to move the
heavy covering of clouds which fills the sky away. The air is cold and moist,
and snow seems more than possible.
Seems like the ship that was not holding the Daimyo was safe! Sakuya
would turn to Salute Reza. Both Sakuya would. At least, until one Sakuya
unhenged and slithered up Sakuya's leg. "We're all done here, Reza!" Sakuya
would drop the salute a few moments later. "Oh! I got another one… How do you
make a goldfish old? You take the 'g' out of it!" What… The combat situation
was over… She could relax a little. It was a full surrender! Sakuya would
turn and run towards Michiko, who was down the beach a ways. "Nothing much to
say, Michiko. Excellent work as always. What are your orders?" She asks as she
attempts to salute.
Michiko would quickly heal herself and Sakuya, then let herself relax a
bit. "Indeed… Sakuya-san, could you tie him and make sure he's locked away
somewhere until we return to the village? Reza-san, work with me to make sure
the other lesser pirates are all secure. Try to get the crew pressed into
moving so we can get back as quickly as possible." Michiko would frown just a
bit at the strange joke, not sure if she approves… "Odd," is all she tells
Sakuya before moving to completely her task.
Reza would nod. Upon confirming the situation and the status update
from Sakuya. "Aye. Good stuff." Grimacing a bit from Sakuya's joke he'd offer a
smile in return for a little encouragement…but hopefully not too much.
Turning back towards Michiko he'd nod. "Aye-Aye captain. Now that that's done
we'll have a nice ride back. Plenty of time for you to get your sea-legs ay."
Smirking once more he'd set off to assist in the task ordered of him. Applying
liberal use of shock-therapy where needed.
