Starring:
Date: April 23, 2012
Summary:
After securing the village, Hashi and Daisuke now attempt to break into the monastery to free the rest of the Pandas and clear the remaining enemies.
"Warriors of Balance - The Monastery"
Mt. Daikuma
Hashiramako, Daisuke, Xun, and the others they had saved spent the rest of the afternoon freeing up the village from bandits and attending to the needs of the hurt panda in the village. Day eventually turned to night and it was decided that a push-back squad would wait to enter the monastery until the morning while things were reorganized and cleaned up within the village outside of the monastery.
Daisuke spent the time helping where he could with the clearing of debris and heavy lifting with his nifty chakra arms, as he called them, but most of his thoughts were on the monastery and their offensive launching at dawn. From within the monastery all through the night, sounds of fighting could be heard, and after each clash came uneasy silence, worrying the panda outside of the monastery. Daisuke could tell while he was walking through the groups of panda families that it was lowering morale, thinking that he had to raise it somehow if they were going to lead a successful strike tomorrow.
One thing Daisuke had discovered in his day amongst the panda is that they held many mannerisms that were similar to those of some of the more religious people in the lands. After being around and learning from the monks at the Fire Temple while he was with Natsuki, he saw many similarities between them and the panda. But listening to Xun on their trip to the mountain, there was one thing that set these panda apart from monks themselves, besides not being human. The panda loved their celebrations. Everything about their religion and religious events within was a celebration of life and good times. It pained Daisuke to see them reduced to this. And so in the remaining few hours before nightfall, Daisuke had located Xun and met a few new villagers, and had organized a large celebration around a bonfire. Taking awhile to catch on, as there was a war going on around them and villagers didn't exactly feel like celebrating, once the Sake started flowing, the sounds of celebration and music began to drown out the sounds of war. Daisuke was beaming from ear to ear, that smile of his as wide as it had ever been, as he watched those who had seemed so lost hours ago enjoy themselves again. He turned his head towards the monastery, hoping the sounds of celebration would reach those within, letting them know the village was safe and strengthening their resolve to see their people again. The party lasted well into the night and, come daylight when Daisuke awoke, the villagers were hard at work with a renewed vigor.
A small team of panda awaited Hashiramako and Daisuke to begin their planned assault into the monastery.
This place was a mess, at least in areas that lead toward the monastery. The cleanup was going to be moderately difficult, but manageable. The majority of the mess was debris that could be pushed around save for larger pieces that would require some extra help. Hashi did what she could along with Daisuke and the pandas aroumd here to get this village in shape. The sounds of fighting in the monastery were disheartening and spread out among the group with frustrations evident and sorrows present in others. A whole host of mixed emotions filled the pandas outside, but Daisuke's quick thinking and subsequent action lifted the spirits of the people and by morning, they were refreshed and rewnewed.
Now, it was time to execute the battle plan. The fighting appeared to be taking place still, but it's dwindled to a degree if only because the enemy has pushed deeper. "We're ready to go in there and clear out the bad guys, right?" She inquired. "I'm guessing the fighters have been pushed back even more so we'll need to move fast. There are other entrances to the monastery that I think will come into play for zones of attack. Any secret passages that are available should be used to maximize on surprise and the offensive."
Within the next 20 minutes a plan had been made to invade from both the gates for those able to climb, jump, or use other means to get over the inner wall, and the waterway tunnel access for the others. Xun had been put in charge of the waterway group so Daisuke volunteered to help with the gate team, figuring that is where the most combat will be, as that was the entrance the bandit army had used to enter the monastery. Leaving the rest to fall into each group, Daisuke began to finalize things with his team before heading towards the front entrance.
Approaching the gate, Daisuke was even more impressed with the intricate design than he was with the first gate at the entrance to the village. He hadn't seen such impressive design anywhere else, though he had heard that the Fire Temple's gate was something the behold, so he chalked it up to a 'monk' thing. He looked around at his party as they began to spread out along the walls beside the gate, preparing himself to take action as well. As a hand was raised, everyone readied themselves for the drop, and as it did, Daisuke sprang into action like the rest, using the chakra molded on his feet to scale the wall as if it were a tree, grabbing onto a loose stone near the top with his arms and swinging himself over the wall.
Within the gates lay numerous bodies of panda and human alike, though the humans far outnumbered the panda. Wounded bandits had created a makeshift camp outside of the doors into the inner sanctum, but aside from that and the debris of battle, the courtyard was empty. As the first soldiers of the wall-scaling party land on the ground the wounded bandits stand, yelling and charging the group, who engage in battle.
As the warriors ran forward towards the oncoming bandits Hashi's water manipulation attack rushes by them to smack into the bandits, flushing a large group of them away to smack against pillars, walls, etc, knocking them out. The remaining bandits, after seeing elements manipulated, were getting more and more hesitant to attack, and the remaining few were knocked out easily and tied up along with the ones knocked out by the water. The courtyard of the monastery was cleared within a matter of minutes and the pandas were eager to continue. Daisuke tells them to set up a small camp and loose fortifications facing the doors of the monastery in case someone was to come out, telling them that he would take a small group, including Hashiramako, into the monastery and the rest were to treat the wounded and round up the ones who flee from within the doors.
After a few more minutes of going over the plan, Daisuke and his small handful of followers, along with Hashi, made their way into the inner sanctum of the monastery.
Meanwhile the waterway group was slow going, with pandas not being the greatest swimmers, Xun's group found themselves picking one of their kin up from within the water constantly. The only plus side is that they had not encountered any resistance yet as they made their way into the underground area of the monastery. As the passages narrowed, a few pandas of the larger size had to be left behind as guards, told to meet up with the others left behind to set up a camp. Those of a more normal size (between 5-9 feet tall) carried on along with Xun.
One by one the group in the monastery was attacked by bandits of a different calibre from the ones they had faced outside, with each of the warriors Daisuke selected being separated from the group to face off in one on one combat with them. Soon only Daisuke and Hashiramako remained as they went deeper into the monastery. Daisuke spotted the doors into the inner most sanctum from yards away. "There's our goal, I bet." he says to Hashi as he makes his way over, only to be met by two large men with weaponry, chuckling in deep voices as they spot the 'intruders'.
"A woman and a boy? Where did this scrap come from?" one says as he looks behind the two, wondering if there were more.
"We are more than enough for you to handle." Daisuke says in response.
That was easy, but then again, the courtyard was already fought through and the monastery breached. They were probably in for more once they went further inside. So, Hashi ran along, surveying the area with a few switches of her eyes to make sure no one else was around to attack them. With the others being left behind to set up camp, this left only Daisuke and her to continue on with the mission. She hadn't a problem with this, though she feels she'd have liked the extra security. Still, with them at the doors and in the courtyard, they could catch any stragglers that escaped.
Deeper within, the monastery, they'd find the inner most sanctum only a few yards away from their current position. She nodded to Daisuke in silence. Something didn't sit right with her and her feeling would be confirmed when bandits showed themselves by way of chuckling. Her dash was slowed to a stop as the bandits began to size them up. Hashi wasn't amused and her expression showed as much. Being undermined was fine by her, but weakness as a female? That was a bit harder to let go. "You've got your work cut out for you…" She didn't waste any time with blazing through handseals to summon up wood from the ground to snare and entangle them both.
Hashi's wood vines its way up to grasp and entangle both of the bandits, Daisuke grinning as the fight seems over quickly. All of a sudden, both bandits POOF into thin air, revealing that they can use chakra and Ninjutsu techniques. Daisuke is shocked, though it all starts to make sense now. "I guess this is why they did so much damage to this place. It was only a matter of time before some Ninjutsu was revealed." he says to Hashi, somewhat glad that this wasn't over just yet. The Chuunin sinks into the stone beneath his feet with his Iwagakure technique, seeking out the location of the bandits. One in hiding notices Daisuke leaving before hopping down into the area to face Hashi. "A wood user, huh. Not too many of those around. I'll have some fun." he says as he molds some chakra and spits out a large gout of flame towards Hashi, setting the wood remains from the technique on fire as well, heating up the battlefield.
"Clones…" Of course, Hashi thought. "We can do more damage to them and more than make up for what they've done," she remarked. When one of the bandits dropped down to ground level to address her, she was busy trying to think of how she could defeat him. She'd perform idle amor adjustments, making sure it was secure up until the fire was blown over the wood. Now it's set fire to the area. She didn't want any additional damage to be done to the monastery, but she knows that some of it is going to be inevitable.
She avoided the gout with some ease, distancing herself from the bandit as she began calculating how she could turn this field to her favor. She could potentially squelch the flame or…lead him into it, but she thinks it'll require a bit more manipulation to handle. The bandit didn't waste any time in trying to attack her as he prepared and spit out another flame. This one was more like a flamethrower that he was able to control just by moving his head.
It was powerful and the distance it covered was enough to make her a tad nervous if only because she would have limited space to use as well as the monastery suffering from further destruction by it. She decided to match his fire with water. Hand seals would lead into a blast of water exiting her mouth to drown out his flamethrower. They were locked in a stalemate until she began to step forward in order to provide more pressure for her blast of water. They played the odds until the bandit released his flame and moved out of the way.
Taking this gap of opportunity, she grew a couple trees in the area, one to either side of the area after making the necessary hand seals. It may be the obvious option to try to burn the trees, but they're stronger than what one may suspect.
Trying to grow the trees has left her slightly open for attack.
Meanwhile Daisuke has located the second bandit, who was trying to make his way through the rafters of the monastery to jump Hashiramako from behind. Able to 'surf' through the earth and stone of the floor, Daisuke is able to catch up to the second bandit, grabbing firmly onto the ankle of his and tripping him up, sending him crashing into the ground. Daisuke exits the floor by slowly rising from it as if it were water, taking a step back onto the solid stone. "Now then." he says as he cracks his knuckles one at a time, approaching the bandit. When he gets close the bandit poofs into a broken piece of a ceiling beam, causing Daisuke to blink in surprise, twisting his head to look up towards the ceiling to locate where it came from. A rain of kunai and senbon needles fly towards Daisuke from the western area of the ceiling, causing him to back flip numerous times to avoid the attack. Looking back towards Hashi, he notices the flames and water, realizing that his fire and lava techniques would only do more harm than good in this space. He had to get out of the hall and into a more open area. Looking around he notices a hole in the roof and, using his own weaponry, leads the second bandit outside onto the roof where he felt much better.
Daisuke and the second bandit stand apart by 30ish yards atop the monastery roof, overlooking the whole monastery, village, and lands beyond as it sits atop the mountain. If there were time to take in the view, it would be breathtaking, but unfortunately in combat there was little time. More volleys of weaponry head towards Daisuke, though these ones are embedded with wind chakra, causing them to fly faster and shatter the roof tiles they hit as Daisuke dodges. The red-headed Senju brings his hands to his side, flashing through a series of hand seals and, as he completes it, the tiles underneath the bandit become a river of mud, causing him to lose balance within the sticky substance. Daisuke places his palm on the ground, the technique only starting, leaving himself open as he raises a giant dragonhead out of the mud, opening its mouth in a ROAR as it prepares to spit hardened mud projectiles.
Down below against Hashi, the first bandit notices the trees and laughs, a loud, booming laugh from his diaphragm as he thinks he has the advantage, wood vs. fire. He does exactly what Hashi thought he would do, sending out his flamethrower-like attack to attempt to burn the trees down.
Hashi knew there were two, but didn't know where the other was positioned. It was Daisuke's watchful eye that managed to spare her from any attacks that could have come from the bandit hiding amidst the rafters. She offered him a thumbs up and a smirk before turning her attention back on her own bandit. The split second she took his eyes off him is the time he spent to make fire clones of himself to confuse her. She frowned and scanned the area, three people, one on the left, one on the right and the other straight down the middle. With the trees out, she's able to have more wood at her disposal to manipulate, but this time, she summons up a briar patch to choke the clones and the bandit, wrapping around all of them until the only one left is the bandit himself. The barbs dig into his skin and hold him in place allowing her to go through the necessary hand seals to summon up entwining vines to wrap around the barbs and dig into his body to drain the chakra he has until he doesn't have anymore to give.
The flamethrower attack that he did earlier? No effect. The wood was scorched, but it wasn't burned. Wood doesn't always succumb to fire. Her bandit is down for the count.
Daisuke's dragon fires off its projectiles, which smack into the bandit and would've knocked anyone normal or of at least Genin level senseless, but the bandit lays there in the mud looking up at the sky while catching his breath, still very conscious. As the technique fades the bandit pushes himself to the edge of the mud and rolls onto the tiles, his hands creating numerous hand seals as a large gust of wind surrounds him and blows outwards towards Daisuke. Daisuke is hit by the wind and is flung off the side of the roof. The bandit laughs through the heavy breathing, walking over to confirm his kill. It is then, as he looks over the roof edge, that Daisuke swings up from underneath the roof he clung to like a monkey and knocks the bandit flying with an uppercut kick. Daisuke watches the bandit slide over the tiles and …. SCORE… straight into the hole in the roof they exited from to fight. Daisuke catches his breath and hops back down into the hole, catching up with Hashi after tying up his man. They meet up in front of the doors to the inner sanctum, both victorious, Daisuke smiling again. It was then that Xun's group exits from the tunnels underneath and, coming from a side hallway, catch up with Daisuke and Hashi. Daisuke looks at the door. "This should be the last place left. If anyone is left, it will be the 'last boss.'"
Hashi let her bandit sit locked in the barbs that continued digging into him. Her focus was now on Daisuke wondering if the bandit he had the upper hand in his battle against his bandit. She could hear the guy laughing as a thunk sounded off on the roof of the monastery. She's assuming it was him that took that fall. Just as she was about to go up to see about this fight, she heard a shout as the bandit came flying through the hole and fell to the floor. She grinned and clapped her hands lightly as they met up at the front doors to the inner sanctum. A brief glance was offered to Xun and his group as they exited the tunnels. "Right… Well, guess we should take some time to rest. Might be good to store up our enery for this last one or we can head straight in and fight. Your call. I think I have enough in me to continue," she shrugged. Xun and his group were busy trying to take in the damage to this place. There were two trees that now appeared in this place, a briar patch, vines, wood roots that were now smoldering and water as well as fire damage. The group had to put aside their slight frustrations to realize that this was the price of battle. They only hoped that all this could be repaired. A beam fell from the roof…Wonder what happened to the rest of—*CRASH* A few pieces of the roof break apart and fall to the floor all due to the missing beam and were followed by mud. "…"
"We made a good amount of groundwork, we should rest and scan the area for any stragglers or panda we missed that will need help or healing. Once we've swept the area we can meet back here and enter through these doors. Let's get go-" Daisuke says before the roof caved in and his mud splats all over the floor, the remainder of it dripping from the ceiling. Daisuke whistles innocently as he tries to pull attention from it and says, "Let's move out and secure the monastery. Xun, I would like you to find someone who knows what to expect once we enter through this door." Xun nods his head and goes to find one of the older monks who would have entered the place enough times to remember the layout of what rooms lay beyond. Daisuke turns to Hashi with a sheepish look.
Hashi shrugged. She did just as bad growing two new trees in here. So, she shared the same look with Daisuke. Not without mention is the barbed patches and vines that are still working on the bandit. "…Hope they like the new scenery…" she remarked quietly. The least she could do is get rid of the vines and roots, but the trees looked nice in here.
"We…we can do something about that a little later. It's manageable, right?" She wondered. She was joking a bit, but was mostly serious. She hoped this place could be repaired.
