Dead Station (mission)

[Takahashi Aki]

There used to be a time when things were simple. Bandits robbed places and or people. Those bandits would eventually get caught. Sometimes they would be hung, or they were put in jail for a long time. That was how things would go. Yep. Back in the day. Now these days? There was an extra step. Those bandits that were hanged would return. Return from the dead. It was the problem of the fact that they did. It was the matter of how they did so. That was the more curious question. As part of the new initiative with Wind Country, the Kazekage had dispatched a team to go figure out this problem.

Here is what they knew. The bandits who were equipped with elemental firearm weaponry had been apprehended. They were hanged as they were deemed too dangerous for prison. Right then. Well, this is where things got weird. The bodies were left hanging for a few hours, and before they could bury them, they were gone! No word how. No one in the small settlement saw anyone take them. It was like magic! Magic though was ninjutsu or genjutsu pending on the technique. This was something else. A few days later, they were attacked by the same band of three figures. The difference thought was that their eyes glowed green, well it wasn't so much as the glowing green eyes it was that they had no eyes? Well that could be seen that is.

Sousuke had sent two young genin, and Houjin the Foe Hammer to investigate. Houjin was not a certified ninja, he was a giant. He was nearly seven feet tall. It was unknown if the man was a giant or a half giant. He was armed to the teeth with axes and swords. He was an older man too. He was perhaps in his early sixties. His hair was silver. He wore boiled leathers and walked bare footed. This was the sort of man one would not want to get into a fight with, at least a physical fight. Houjin had operated with Sungakure a number of times. He lived on the outskirts in a chalet that was proportionate to his size, and the house was always smoking ... mainly due to the fact Houjin ate nothing but smoked meats. The giant of a man sat on a rock as he was tearing into a piece of smoked meat. He ate greedily, but it was perhaps due to the fact he had not broke his fast in the morning.

 

[Kazu]

Takeyashi waited, somewhat uncomfortably, next to the hulking giant who seemed to be devouring what he could only surmise to be at least a week's worth of rations. He'd always been the one who had the weirdest body among his teammates, so this was a bit of a weird situation for the Spiderling. What was worse, is that not only did this colossus of a man look abnormal, he acted like it too. For the entire time that he'd been here, he hadn't heard this figure speak even once. All he'd done was eat the smoked meats he'd brought with him, as the clanking of his armor and myriad of weapons filled the air every time he even slightly moved. It was a little disconcerting, to say the least. Takeyashi had accepted this mission because he'd thought that this kind of mission would be challenging and interesting — undead elemental gunslingers were certainly cause for intrigue. What was more, the Kazekage had specifically called upon Takeyashi to take up this mission. You couldn't just ignore the request of the Kazekage, and so Takeyashi had accepted without a second thought. Though, in hindsight, maybe he should have taken a little more time to review the terms of the mission.

According to the dossier, there was one more participant that they were waiting for. A certain Sunaku Yuko, whom he'd partnered with before. Their work in the Chuunin Exam was still fresh in his mind, and he hoped that in this mission they would be able to work together on an even better level. Somehow, he foresaw quite a few more missions together with his sand-wielding peer. As Takeyashi sat there, leaned against a rock next to the giant, he wondered when exactly his teammate would arrive. He was tired of being alone with this beast of a man, and eagerly awaited someone whom he could have a more normal interaction with. As it was, all the man was doing was eating his meat. Takeyashi felt it was probably best not to disturb him until all of the meat was consumed.

 

[Yomoko]

(OOC: glad you took the intiative to decide this was after the chuunin exam... wasn't sure on how to play this out for continuity wise. Appreciate that )

So there were two men sitting side by side. One Yuko had met a few times now and actually owed a meal to still. Funny how life gets away from you right? The six armed spider ninja named Mitsuyo Takeyashi was a ninja that he took the chuunin exam with as well as let him into the village at the gates a few days before the exam as well. It was interesting how fate kept bringing these two youngins together in such odd circumstances. Speaking of odd, next to him was a giant of a man covered from head to toe in metal and weapons while eating away at some sort of smoked meat. How the man could sit there and just eat, acting as if nothing was going on around him was an amazement to all. Yuko walked up to the pair to greet them. "Hey, Takeyashi-san. Greetings Giant-san, I'm Yuko." He said with a small smile. They were here for a mission on the undead. Why Lord Kazekage thought that Yuko would be fit for this is beyond his reasoning. However, you can't refuse a task from the Kazekage, that wasn't Yuko's way of life. If you refused to do what your elders asked in the good of the village, what good were you to the village? Though Yuko didn't mind going on a mission, especially with someone he had met a few times, he'd rather be training with Kuro-sama on his un-awakened abilities and runic terran. What Yuko didn't know is that slowly his abilities were going to start becoming prominent, but more on that in the future. He waited for the giant to speak. He assumed he was in charge of this mission. They were all hear.. at least that's what he read from the report. Not like it gave much other information on what exactly this mission was going to be all about. If I want to be a guardian of Suna... I gotta start somewhere... He thought to himself as he hoped this mission would be at least more interesting than getting a cat down from a high ledge on the side of a cave. It'd be so much easier if the cat was in a tree...

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Yuko arrived soon enough, but that did not stop Houjin from eating his smoked meats. He put the bones of the smoked meats into a bag. After finishing his meal, he patted his stomach and finally spoke. "Ack. So good." He spoke in a foreign accent. The giant licked his lips as smacked his lips as he got himself ready. He again patted his stomach and handed Takeyashi some smoked jerky and the same to Yuko. "Aye lads. Houjin was hungree, but he dienot ferget yeh." The giant took out a piece for himself. He tore into it, and chewed. "Giant-san." Houjin spoke, "Har. Har. Almost laddy. Almost. I am Houjin the Foe Hammer. This laddy here is uhm ... Sousuke told me his name. Oh. Yes. Takeyashi. Yes. He is a find land. Many arms. He can use many swords, and hopefully contest Houjin for a number of foes killed, but Houjin is not sure how this will work. If foe is dead, then how do we make foe more dead? Houjin considered smashing foe into fine paste. Yes!" The Giant's eyes lit up like a Sunan Holiday Light show. "Come little Sunan Fighters. Come. Houjin knows the way." The giant would get up from the rock and would motion for them to come with him. "Tell me Takeyashi, short swords, scimitars, or neither?" He would ask the Spiderling. The Giant who was now filled with food was more sociable now. Houjin loved his smoked meats. The giant's strides were heavy and far. "Yuko. You smell of sorcery. Does Houjin's nose lie to him?"

The little village Houjin brought them to seemed deserted. The giant frowned at the sight of it. This was not the case here a little while back. There were tents about, but there were no human movements. The flaps of the tents were moving about due to the wind. Houjin smelled the air. "Mmm. Prepare yourselves. The scent of man lingers here. Not the smell of death. Man and woman hide from us. I wonder why..." He continued to sniff the air. Was it fear that Houjin smelled? There was not the scent of death in the area. "What scouting tools or tricks do you have whee lads?" Houjin would ask of his companions. He seemed reluctant to go forward. "Houjin have bad habit of scaring people. Is something he has been trying to work on for a long time." He explained to his companions. Was it his smell? Was it his size? Was it the fact he was a walking armory of weapons?

 

[Kazu]

Just as he'd predicted, Yuko made his way to the meeting spot with haste. Takeyashi estimated he'd been waiting for a little under ten minutes — no time at all. As his teammate greeted him, the young man returned the gesture with a polite smile. "Good to see you again. I didn't expect we'd be seeing each other again quite so soon, but I'm not going to complain." The two conversed for a moment more as the giant finished his meal. Then, like the rumbling of thunder, the giant spoke. His deep and booming voice startled Takeyashi a tad bit, almost as if he were listening to a prolonged cave-in. With an accent that he wasn't familiar with, the giant introduced himself and offered a small olive-branch of sorts: a piece of smoked jerky. He had one for both Yuko and the Spiderling, as well as another one for himself. Takeyashi graciously accepted the offer, bowing his head slightly. "Thank you very much, Houjin. This looks delicious!" As the young man examined the piece of jerky, he wondered what sort of animal this meat had been taken from? It smelled really good, though, and soon all questions left his mind as he sank his teeth into the meat. A tender, and beautifully seasoned flavor filled his mouth as chewed. Almost surprised by how good it was, the young man had to admire this giant's taste — he vowed, after this mission was done, to learn the man's cooking secrets. He almost didn't pay attention when the giant spoke of contests and paste, he was too absorbed with how good this meat was.

The giant motioned for them to follow, and the young man followed dutifully along. He wore a cloth around his neck to keep the sun off of his skin, which he unraveled slightly in order to drape some of the material over his head. The desert heat had to be minded, or else it would sneak up on you. As he busied himself with that, Houjin began to make small talk about their battle preferences. Smiling a little as he asked what kind of sword the young man preferred, Takeyashi answered honestly. "Scimitar, if I had to use a sword. However, I'm more comfortable with my bows," he slid out two long pieces of wood, one a dark brown and one an ashen white, from his bag to demonstrate his point. The giant's inquiry then shifted to Yuko's abilities, which the Spiderling knew to be geared more towards Sand Ninjutsu. Takeyashi had some ability with the element, but no where near the level of control his teammate had. And being in a desert, Takeyashi knew that his teammate would have the advantage in almost any fight.

As they continued along their trek, Takeyashi noticed a small village nestled along the road. Made mostly of tents, it didn't seem to be a village of permanent residents. Probably a nomad tribe, if anything. Speaking of the residents, however, Takeyashi noticed something odd: he didn't see any of them. The place was either deserted, or they were hiding. Houjin confirmed his suspicions rather quickly, as he mentioned that he smelled the scent of man. The tribe was still here, but they were hiding. Takeyashi was impressed with the man's sense of smell — it was a rather useful ability. He didn't have much time to simply be impressed, however, as Houjin asked what scouting tools or tricks the two of them might possess. Takeyashi was an old fashioned hunter, sticking to the basics of reading footprints and the environment. It was a skill he'd picked up during his many missions out in the desert, and it had come in handy many times before now too. Studying the ground around him, Takeyashi tried to make sense of what might have happened around this area. As he did, he verbalized his thoughts so his teammates might weigh in. "Should we be cautious approaching this tribe? It's possible that the undead bandits have already been here, and they might be scared. Who knows what they'll do when backed into a corner..."

Just in case of a skirmish, Takeyashi drew his dark brown bow, Bonebreaker. He strung the bow, and kept it on hand as he searched for clues. He didn't want to be caught off guard on a mission like this, especially when there were too many unknowns. His first priority was to secure the area, and from there he would focus on approaching the village with caution. He assumed Yuko and himself would be the ones to approach it alone, as Houjin was a little too intimidating for the average citizen. It wouldn't do to scare them all before they could approach and ask questions.

 

[Yomoko]

Yuko smiled and nodded to Takeyashi's comment when he arrived. It was a pleasant surprise to be working with someone he was familiar with. They conversed for a moment until Houjin spoke up and then handed them smoked jerky. Yuko's face lighted up as it smelled delicious. "Thank you Houjin-san! The genin spoke as he tore into a piece of the jerky. The smoky meat was perfectly tenderized and tasted delicious. They talked for a minute talking about things, getting on the subject on what they were good at. Yuko knew that Takeyashi was good with his bloodline skills as well with his bow. As they moved on Houjin asked Yuko if he was good with Sorcery. Yuko smiled and nodded then responded "Yup. I'm good at many different types of ninjutsu except for earth ninjutsu. I'm also good at illusionary techniques or Genjutsu."

As they moved forward they were brought to a village which seemed non existent. It was almost like no one lived here yet Houjin could smell someone was here. Something that Yuko wished there was a way for him to learn such a quality, it would be useful in many different types of situations. Yuko wasn't much for a tajutsu fight so he never trained much in the Taijutsu arts. The one good thing about being a ninjutsu user or Genjutsu user is that he was always armed. Sand started to swirl around his hand as he gathered it iincase he had to make a quick movement. Sand manipulation was his specialty. He looked over to Takeyashi and said "we should probably check on our own just in case. Don't worry I have your back incase anything happens."

He would wait to see what Houjin had to say and then they would move forward being carefully. He wondered how this would play out. If living people were here... how would they react to the group. If they were the un-dead... well that was an easy answer on how to handle them... kill them.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

(We're gonna go into a sort of exploration phase, poke at things, investigate, make use of abilities or jutsus to figure things out)
Houjin stood as still as stone. He considered what was their options. The giant turned his head slightly. Yuko's sand was putting him off slightly. NEVER TRUST A WIZARD. Those were the famed words of his father who was in fact not killed by sorcery, he was killed through treachery. The Spiderling was right. A caged animal was dangerous ten fold when cornered further. The giant seemed to not be overly pleased. He rolled his shoulders. "Houjin thinks the smaller people ought to make contact first."[/color] The Giant suggested. He slammed his fist into his open palm. "Should trouble appear, Houjin will crush him by jumpin' on him." He paused, "Or her. Trouble mightin' be a woman too."

For the time being it was up to Yuko and Takeyashi to figure things out. Neither of the two young ones would use their scouting tools yet. The two of them would not receive any early warning signs that something was amiss. The little village seemed out of place, the more they moved through it. They would find some wooden structures for merchants. Their wares were still present and out for looking at, but there was no individual there to make sure someone did not make off with it into the evening. They would pass by a few tents, but no one was inside. There was a rush it seemed, there were some knocked over drinks and their contents were spilled, onto the tables they rested on. The contents were dripping off of the table and onto the floor. The evacuation was hastily done it seemed, but with what they saw ... it was recent as well.

The trek would continue and thing they would come across the first living thing. A Black cat. The cat came out of one of the tents and passed the two by. The cat sniffed the air, turned to the two and began to hiss, more so at Takeyashi than Yuko. Clearly the creature was put off by the fact he simply had too many arms. In some cultures it was bad luck to have a black cat come cross your path. Well, things were about to get worse as black kittens began to make their way out of the same tent. The kittens seemed to parade their way across to what was seemingly their mother. The cat would continue to hiss at the Spiderling, and now that the kittens were out, to make things slightly more concerning the cat held out her paw and the claws came out. Now. This was normal right? No. The cat's claws were much larger, sharper, and green. The cat had yet to pounce at Takeyashi, but it was beginning to back up with the kittens now, and the cat was slowly beginning to get larger in size now... growing into the size of a panther.

 

[Kazu]

As the two Genin advanced towards the village, Takeyashi felt reaffirmed by his teammate's words. Giving him a sideways smirk, the Spiderling continued to walk with his bow ready to be drawn. "You have my back, and I have yours." The two complimented each other well in terms of skills. They were a strong force to be reckoned with, for sure. As the pair drew closer to the village, Takeyashi noted that he couldn't see any people in the area. The village seemed completely deserted, but rather curiously so. Liquids from drinks were still spilled on the ground, which meant they couldn't have left long ago — the desert would have evaporated the liquids in no time if left alone. Furthermore, the various tents and shops still had all of their merchandise out. They hadn't even put things away? If they didn't want anyone to know that people were here, this was a rather sloppy job. It seemed that if they had been fleeing, they would have tried to remove their traces of having been there. This felt like something else. "Something's wrong, Yuko. This doesn't seem like an ordinary abandoned village." Maybe their targets had a hand in this? They were undead criminals, supposedly with odd abilities. It was possible, the young man mused. However, they wouldn't be able to know until they got some more evidence.

Curious, the young man used the Chakra Sense jutsu. He wanted to see if there was any possibility of shinboi involvement, or if he could detect anyone's chakra at all. This was too bizarre of a situation, and they needed more intel. As he scanned the area, however, an odd sight greeted him. A black cat walked out of one of the tents, crossing in front of them until it stopped and stared the two of them down. Takeyashi was nervous, as he'd always been told never to cross a black cat's path. He was a superstitious man, and this he knew was a bad omen. "I don't like this. It's looking straight at us. Almost like it-" He was cut off as the cat began to hiss at him. His hair stood on end, his superstitious nature spooked by such a display. This was a really bad omen. Soon a small family of kittens joined what seemed to be the mother cat. That was when things took a turn for the worse.

Holding out its paw, the mother cat extended her claws out. But they looked wrong. Green and abnormally large, the young man couldn't help but feel something was odd. Then it began to grow, its size becoming something more akin to a panther. What was going on? "Something's wrong. This can't be real." Was it a Genjutsu? Takeyashi tried to use the Cancel jutsu, wondering if they'd walked into an illusory trap. He almost hoped they had, since that would at least make more sense. But if that failed, and there really was a panther about to pounce on them, Takeyashi steeled himself for combat. If the panther pounced, he would use one pair of arms to loose an arrow dipped in poison at the beast. He hoped that would be enough to slow it down or otherwise debilitate the creature. Shortly afterwards, he would use another pair of arms to cast the Vine Tangle jutsu, in the hopes of ensnaring their target. He didn't want to kill the creature to begin with, as there could be some vital information to be gained by keeping it alive. If he had a moment, he would scream out at the top of his lungs, "HOUJIN, IT'S A TRAP!" Their ally would hopefully hear him, and come charging to their aid. This panther could be deadly, and the young man didn't want to take any chances.

 

[Yomoko]

Yuko smiled slightly at the comment from Spider-kun as they moved forward. They did indeed make one killer combo. Maybe this would become a regular team of the two. They walked through the, what it seemed to be, abandoned village but as his team member said, something didn't feel right. It was too quiet for them. Even for the desert, it was quiet. They looked through tents as they moved and eventually his partner used a jutsu unknown to him, possibly a scanning ninjutsu of sorts he had developed? Regardless after a few moments a black cat came out of a tent and greeted them. One thing Yuko didn't know about his partner is that he was superstitious. That didn't bother him any but everyone has their quirks.

The cat hissed at the two and as the rest of its family came out the mother cat's paw and rest of its body got bigger. Normally that was weird enough except that the claws were green. His partner did a handseal sign he did know, Cancel, for Genjutsu. Yuko didn't think this was Genjutsu and was fairly certain it would take a higher level Genjutsu to get him into one, higher than the Cancel jutsu would be able to break unfortunately. Not taking any chances or even thinking really, his sand acted on its own. Acting as restraints the sand attempted to wrap around the panther/cat and hold it still. The green claw could mean its poisoned. Stay away from it Spider-kun. From his experience, Anything weird looking that's green, black, purple or brown that's on some sort of weapon could mean its poison.

Between the two jutsus the panther wouldn't be moving at all anytime soon. Neither jutsu would do any real harm as it was more precautionary than it was offensive. Still thought it would be best to stay on guard. He looked at the smaller cats and wondered if they had the same freak ability to get bigger and deadlier. He thought it in his mind and the sand reacted to his will as a wall of sand about five feet high blocked the smaller cats from being able to attack the duo. What the heck was going on here? First undead merchants with elemental abilities and now shape shifting animals? This mission was crazy! Hopefully Houjin would hurry up and get to them before a real ambush happened.

(OOC: I'm using Sand manipulation from the Sunaku BL to do everything. Gotta love when everything happens because you think it)

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The two prepared themselves for what was to come. The Spiderling decided to lock onto the creature by using chakra sense. Takeyashi could not detect the use of spiritual energy but it was something else, it was an energy source that was wild. Mentally it was like a foreign language being spoken. There were some common words, and phrases but for the most part it was not recognizable. The feeling was coming from around him. It was almost in every direction. Including the cat which was now the size of a panther. The Spiderling would follow up with the cancel jutsu to make sure that they were not being misled by illusions, and indeed they were not but there was a hint of a foreign illusion that was upon them. Lingering in the sense that it was in the past. Seemingly the cat had used a genjutsu to hide its true form from them being that of a smaller cat instead of the panther.

The panther would indeed pounce at the Spiderling, seeing as how he was indeed armed with a bow and a poisoned tipped arrow. The creature would find the arrow landing in the shoulder as it had indeed attacked. The follow up came again from Takeyashi who used a plant jutsu drawing upon vines to try and trap the creature further. The panther would roll an narrowly just avoid it. Avoiding the vines were easy but not the sands as a blanket of sand would rise and fall upon the creature. As this happened, the kittens all cried out as their mother was subdued, they would attempt to run to the trapped mother's aid but were denied as a sand wall blocked their paths. Each of them were not able to put on the breaks fast enough as each of them slammed into the other and hit the wall.

Houjin would join them shortly. There would be a large shadow above them, and as time passed the shadow grow larger and larger and large until Houjin landed. He cracked the ground around him as he landed. The giant gripped a war hammer in one hand, and a great axe in the other. As the giant surveyed the situation, things proceeded to get worse. Large snakes began to slither out of the tents, and large wolves began to come out too. The giant growled. "Lycans?" He spoke. There were rumors of people in Wind Country who took the form of animals. Snakes, Wolves, and Panthers usually did not get along, especially in the same place. "Lower your weapons." He suggested. "These might be our patrons... did the Panther attack?"

 

[Kazu]

Takeyashi was glad that they'd been able to subdue the threat in front of them. A massive panther staring you down from no more than thirty feet away was certainly a terrifying sight. And with its poisoned green claws, anything could have happened to the two of them. Takeyashi was just relived that no one had gotten hurt. He spared a moment to see how Yuko was doing. "Thank goodness for your sand manipulation. We might have been goners if that panther got to us." As they spoke, the shadow of Houjin the Giant began to darken the area around them. Takeyashi didn't even realize what was going on until after their comrade had slammed into the ground at full velocity. Nearly being knocked over by the sheer wind force of the man's descent, Takeyashi was rather surprised to see him enter the village in such a way. He was delighted, however, to see their compatriot. "Houjin, thank god you're here! This panther just showed up out of nowhere, and we were sure it wa-" Takeyashi was interrupted, however, when Houjin began to speak. He mentioned the word 'lycans' — this was a pretty weird time to bring up a children's horror story. His aunt and uncle used to tell him those stories all the time when he was a child, about how if you were out too late the shapeshifters would get him! It was an old tale about people that could change their appearance, designed to scare kids. Why would he bring up a tale li- "Oh." Realization dawned on the young man. With an almost stupid air about him, Takeyashi looked at the panther befuddled. "You mean to tell me, that's a person?"

Soon, more beasts emerged from the village. Wolves, snakes, and panthers, all in the same abandoned village. Actually, it seemed that the village wasn't so abandoned after all. "Are all of these animals the villagers?!" Disbelief was to be expected, surely. Takeyashi never thought that old tales and myths would actually end up being true! His brain barely registering what Houjin was saying anymore, the young man lowered his bows while he processed this information. Just then, a thought came into his mind. "The arrow!" Snapping to attention, the young man remembered that the poison he'd applied to his arrow was now circulating through the lycan's blood. It wouldn't have killed him, but it was uncomfortable to say the least. Dropping to his knees near the panther, Takeyashi carefully pressed a hand up next to the wound. "Hang on, I'm going to remove the poison. Okay?" Hopefully Houjin was right, and there was a person beneath those whiskers. A person that wouldn't bite his hand off. Pressing forward, Takeyashi applied his chakra to the wound, and began to soak up all the traces of the poison that were in the creature's (man's?) system. The arrow was another matter, however.

Looking the panther in the eyes, Takeyashi had a worried look on his face. "I'm so sorry about this, really. I have to pull the arrow out..." He had a feeling he wasn't going to get out of this without a few scratches, and maybe some scars. Assuming there was no immediate interjection or objections, the young man gripped the arrow with one hand. "Just try to relax, okay?" Quickly ripping the arrow out, the young man took no time in proceeding to the next phase of this little foray. Using his spider mucus, the man clumped the material over the wound in order to hold everything together — it was similar to the militaristic solution of wound repair wherein the soldiers would glue their wounds together. Consider the spider mucus to be an "all-natural" glue substitute.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The giant would say nothing at first. He looked to the sky for a moment. "Wind Country has many people of shapes and sizes land. Some of those people can manipulate it easily enough." Houjin spoke as looked about. The giant had his weapons holstered. Houjin would look around. More animals joined them, including a bear now that stood up on its hind legs. The giant's eyes narrowed slightly. "Houjin thinks so." He would assume as the Spiderling quickly took to task the problem of the arrow. The whole lot of them, excluding Houjin warily eyed the young man as he spoke out loud that it was poisoned. "We're going to have to work extra hard to get their trust now." Houjin assumed.

Takeyashi did as he said though and used his chakra to remove the poision from their susposed patron's paw. The panther in question hissed for a moment, which was natural due to the pain. The curious band aid made the menagerie of animals stare. This was obviously new to them. The panther eyed it warily, but the panther felt no pain. Takeyashi for his efforts would receive a 'boop' to the head in the form of a paw to the head. No claws were out, and so the gesture was to be taken in good spirit. The fur would then begin to recede and the paw would turn into a hand. The rest of the body would begin to change as well, and turned to be rather curvy female who was not all that well clothed. Houjin's eyes would widen. "Right then." He would attempt to look at something else now considering the situation. The rest of the animals would begin to transform as well too. The snakes transformed into taller individuals. The wolves became muscled men. The cubs were children, and the bear was a very large man. "Hmm..." He would turn to Takeyashi, "Houjin is putting the ... speaking and charismatic thing to you. Houjin not quite good with speaking to attractive ladies." The panther woman in question had a slight tint to her skin, her eyes were indeed feline-like. "Houjin." He pointed to himself. He then pointed to Takeyashi expecting him to introduce himself. The invitations were better late than never right?

 

[Kazu]

The wound was tended to, and he wasn't dead yet. So far, Takeyashi took that as a sign that he hadn't screwed up yet. He'd been so busy with his work that he hadn't even noticed the other lycans gthering around to watch his work. As soon as the spider mucus had been used to seal up the arrow wound, Takeyashi felt a soft but firm sensation on his head. He looked up to see the panther had batted at his head, a quite innocent and thankful gesture. The young man returned the gesture with a slight smile. "My bad for shooting you. Won't happen again." Almost as if in response to his words, the panther's fur began to recede. It was startling at first, but the young man reminded himself that these weren't animals — lycans were humans who had the ability to change their shape into different animals. If he looked around, Takeyashi would see that it wasn't just the panther who was transforming. The entire village — whether they be snake, bear, or wolf — was turning back into people.

The panther before him, however, had turned out to be a rather curvy and attractive woman. Normally, this would set many people off. Having an attractive woman who was barely clothed right before the eyes of a young man was usually a recipe for lustful hormones clogging up the air waves. Unfortunately, Takeyashi was as goal oriented as you could get. "Glad to see you're okay. My name's Takeyashi." Standing up, he politely offered the woman a hand up before turning to the rest of the village. He didn't even pause to ogle her lascivious body. "I apologize, profusely, for this mix-up. We came here to deal with the elemental bandits. You're our clients, aren't you?" Takeyashi would wait for either affirmation or confusion, but he had a feeling that the former was far more likely. After waiting for either answer, the young Spiderling would continue. "Is there any other information you can give about them? It would help us in finding and eliminating them for you." Takeyashi didn't have a lot of tact. He was quite direct, and wasn't really the subtlest of people. However, he always put 110% into his missions. If nothing else, they were sure to sense his conviction in this mission. Maybe, if he was lucky, they'd interpret it as empathy.

[ooc: Short post is short. Wasn't sure what else to do for this round.]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

The Panther lady in question would take the Spiderling's hand and get up. She was slightly taller than Takeyashi, but certainly shorter than Houjin. She stuck her tongue out at him and then tapped her tongue with her index finger. She didn't answer him at first, but let out a purr afterwards. "Pantha." She returned a response giving her name. Her voice was smooth. Not young sounding but mature. At the mention of the word clients she eyed one of the taller men who used to be a serpent. The man would walk forward now and bow his head in a way that most people should not be capable of doing.

"Crobrix." He answered. It seemed that each of them had their names connected to their animal form in some manner. Cobrix was indeed very bald. His eyes were green with a focused pupil of sorts. Perhaps worst of all was his slightly peeling skin now. "Yeeesssss. Yeeessss. Yeeessss. We are your ... clientssss." He spoke with a lisp of sort. "Very good. "He looked to Houjin and hissed at him. "Bigsss man. I would rather deal with you, you seem more like our kinssss." He spoke referring to the Spiderling than the giant. It seemed his multi-handed nature was allowing him to feel more at home with these folks? Houjin just stuck out like a sore thumb. Crobrix next rubbed his hands together. "Sssssuna nin. Ssssuna nin better people than Sssoragakure. They would have us left for dead. Wordssss speak of your metal masssster trying to do good in the landssss. The Farmersssss Union likessss him, we hope we will likesssss you too. Onto bussssinesssss." He would motion for everyone to come forward. These people were the trustworthy sort. They made quick amends to what ills they had done wrong. "Get a fire going." Corbrix would call and Pantha would do just that. The serpentine man would produce a pouch and he would take a pinch of dust from it and throw it into the flame.

The Spiderling would see three figures. Three men who had attacked this small outpost and had killed a number of animals. In time the three men were captured and were hanged. Cobrix seemed to be the leader of sorts. The scene crackled and flared as the three hanging bodies disappeared suddenly. The image in the fire crackled again and show them attacking again and again. Cobrix and Pantha would take their animal forms, and would change their sizes to become smaller versions of what the already were.

"It's been like this for a while now. We're losing supplies, and we've been burying too many dead." Pantha would speak up now. "My mate died in one of their secondary attacks. We buried him not three days ago." She explained. One of the bigger members of the group, who was a bear let out a sorrowful growl of sorts. It seemed that everyone present had lost someone here. Cobrix said nothing but even he seemed sullen. "Pantha hopes we can finally put them down. Entirely and eternally. The dead should not trouble the living, especially these three."Cobrix would then hold his hand out once more and the image in the fire changed once more. A bird was flying towards Sungakure with a message. The rest, well Takeyashi and Houjin would already know being that they were here and now.

 

[Kazu]

It seemed that things were going to go well for the young Spiderling. The panther lady introduced herself as Pantha, and a number of other people began to identify themselves as well. The leader, who seemed to be named Cobrix, was welcoming to the young man; however, Houjin was still deemed untrustworthy. Takeyashi hadn't considered it, but his many arms seemed to be a great asset in this mission. Who would have ever thought his strange and abnormal body would be considered normal somewhere? The young man didn't spend much time thinking about it, instead just accepting the benefits without much of a question. He bowed to the leader as well. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I hope that my actions will not poorly reflect on your opinions of my village, or my leader." As Cobrix said, however, the time for pleasantries was over. It was now time for business.

As the fire was made, and Cobrix deposited a pinch of some unknown powders into the flames, Takeyashi watched closely as images in the fire began to appear. The tales that he'd been told of were recreated before his eyes, showing him a full recounting of the events that had led them to this point. As Pantha jumped in with a rather tragic anecdote of her own, Takeyashi nodded his head sadly. "Truly, what's happening here is a travesty. I will not let these ethereal bandits continue to harass you any longer. That said..." Takeyashi was full of conviction right now. He appeared totally confident, cool, and collected. He looked like he had a plan, and was ready to implement it. The young man continued, supposedly to explain his master plan. "That said, I'm not really sure what to do from here." Seriously?! Takeyashi may have had conviction, but he was woefully uninformed on this subject. He had no idea how the bandits could have returned from the dead, nor did he understand why they were attacking in the first place. However, that wouldn't be enough to stop his mighty conviction.

"Cobrix, is there a time when they always attack? We could set up an ambush, and Houjin and I could try to subdue them when they attack next? I'm a good ranger, and a good fighter, but knowledge of how these bandits are still moving is beyond me. If you have any other knowledge to share, I would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, we'll have to do things the old fashioned way." If there was no more information to be shared, Takeyashi would begin preparations. If they were to ambush these bandits, they'd need to evacuate the town first. The bandits would be allowed to show up once more, and would be swiftly ambushed by Takeyashi and Houjin. That was the plan, at least. Life seemed to have a way of messing with Takeyashi's plans, though.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

All of their druidic people seemed to grown very more sullen at the mention of the Spiderling not being to figure out how to proceed further. One of the larger bear people let out a 'boo' sounding growl of sorts. The sides of Cobrix's mouth folded in ways that did not seem even humanly possible. Given a moment later, the Spiderling would jump the idea ship. The elder seemed to face invert, and that frown turned into a a smile that again much like the frown did not seem very possible. Then again the man was for a time a snake so ... what was considered the norm for anyone was out the window. The snake-man rubbed his skin and some of it began to peel . "Our enemy appeared after dussssk. The timingssss have been growing later into the night ssssince their ... new present ssstatusss." He explained at first.

One of the bear people spoke up too in a low rumbling voice. "Groa. They're not misty like but they smell horrible." More information being provided, always a good thing. The enemy was not an etheral state but of a reanimated state. "Spiders don't smell, so leave the smelling to us." He added beating his chest with a fatty hand. There was a roar of sorts that follow after, more bear like than man. Cobrix at this point was holding his face in his hands. Some of those under his care grew too confident, which is why the problem they had become so exacerbated.

"That one is named Pawssster. He is ... eager to sssee this to an end. He, believe it or not, he is a farmer." Crobrix would lean a bit closer to the Spiderling to whisper something into his ear. "He isss an assssett. He is our link to the Farmer'sss Union. I would prefer him most alive." Crobrix would withdraw from Takeyashi's ear and return to standing to his full height once more. Corbrix's eyes would look to the sky. He his lips would form a very neutral expression. Crobrix wore slong sleeves and his hands would go into the opposite sleeves. His hands would no longer be visible. "Yesss. We have time to do a myriad of thingsss. What would you council ussss in thisss sssmall theatre of war. I would prefer children to be kept out of this. Some of usss would like to help you. I am certain Pantha would enjoy ssswift vengance ... and Pawssster is ... eager. We have sssomeone from the Chamelon ... houssse around. They tend to cloak about and hide. Tricky ones they are ... and I myssself will aid you with what knowledge I can. Would you have usss take momentary flight? While you ... prepare yourssselves for this tasssk?"

Houjin said nothing. This was the boy's time to shine. Houjin was certain that Takeyashi could put together something. Some traps, or maybe just a good ole fashion show down with slashing and kicking, and screaming.

[OOC Notes, the time right now is 2pm. Dusk normally would begin due to the timing of the year at 6:30pm. We can proceed through a number of ways, evacuate the city, have the citizens go into hiding, pick an extra party member or two. Prepare traps and allow for some 'Home Alone' slap stick to occur, or we can ... journey into the heart of darkness this.

 

[Kazu]

Takeyashi listened to the information shared by Cobrix and the Bear-man, whom he assumed was named Groa, about the bandits. A lot of interesting things were beginning to come up, but chief among them were two juicy pieces of information: they only appeared at night, and they were reanimated corpses as opposed to spirits, This changed things a little. Ghostly spirits coming back from the afterlife to wreak havoc on a town — that was a tad bit out of his realm of expertise. But a necromancer walking around at night terrorizing a village? That was right up his alley. "Let's evacuate the woman and children, immediately. They may even be able to make it to Sunagakure before sundown, and can take refuge there for the evening." He looked to Cobrix, Pantha, and many of the other villagers whom he was beginning to learn the names of, and waited for a signal that the orders were being carried out. He was incredibly nervous, as now the fates of these people were directly affected by his actions. He would have to make the right ones, for their sake. "It sounds like you've got a necromancer in your midst. Any idea why someone would want to attack your village?" Takeyashi looked around, waiting to see if any names came to mind. When none did, the young man continued on in his plan.

"Well, if it's a necromancer, then we should be able to find a live body nearby to the reanimated ones. It'll be a stealth mission — we'll use the element of surprise to take down the real enemy." Unfortunately for Houjin, this would mean his ability to aid in the mission would be mostly compromised. He wasn't exactly the stealthiest of companions, and would probably be better off guarding the women and children. He knew that Houjin would realize this too. Realistically, his first choices would be Pantha, a member of the Chameleon house that was spoken highly of, and one other volunteer. A four-man squad was usually best for stealth and sneaking around, and so far he only had three out of four teammates chosen. He'd need another willing volunteer.

"I'm planning to take a four-man squad, and we're going to sneak past the reanimated bandits. We're going to find and take out whoever is controlling these corpses." From here on, Takeyashi would take the lead of this squad, whomever it was that would join their squad. The team would agree upon a series of hand signals for communication, practice their formations, and study the lay of the land in order to get a good sense of where someone might be hiding. Takeyashi relied on Cobrix for this information, pushing him for places where someone would be able to get the best range of use on a reanimation jutsu while also keeping themselves hidden and out of the way. They would spend as much of their time as possible to prepare for this mission, However, they had some of the other members of the village work on a little side-surprise. While the four-man squad would go after the one in control, they left a little present for the reanimated bandits. In the middle of the village, a massive fire had been constructed. Almost two meters tall, this fire was sure to attract the attention of the bandits — this would provide an additional effect of distracting the bandits while the four-man squad would sneak past them. However, hidden underneath the fire is the real kicker. Buried just beneath the fire, mere centimeters under the ground, was a ring of exploding notes. They were set to explode when someone got too close, and were powerful enough to rip a body cleanly apart. If the bandits got too close to the fire, they would be obliterated instantly.

The four-man squad prepared themselves. At the first sign of the bandits approaching, they would slip into the dead of night. Unseen, unheard, and undetected, the group would make their way towards some likely spots where the mastermind would be.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Cobrix's tongue would flicker out for a moment as he listened to Takeyashi offer his advice. Evacuate the village of the youth and the women of the village. Yes. That was reasonable, and what anyone would do in this situation. Cobrix would nod his head on a tilt, "We will proceed with that evacuation." He looked to someone in the background that had yet to be introduced. Of Takeyashi were to take a moment to look, he would see what presumably would be Cobrix's daughter. The resemblance was due to the face, seeing as how she was not bald. Cobrix would pull his hands from out his sleeves, "My daughter will lead the firssst group. Then we have a sssecond and third. Can you sssend word to a hossst? I do not know how your village will react to a ... rather large exodusss of usss in our transssformed ssstatesss arriving. I am ... fairly certain they will react better than mossst." Cobrix would at least figure. Takeyashi would inquire if anyone had any dealings with others that led to a negative experience which would lead to their current plight. Cobrix would look around himself. No one responded right away, "We have no reason to think people would attack us for a reason. We are isssolationissstic but that is because people do not take well to usss ... due to our transssformationsss." The Elder would finally answer.

Cobrix and the people would listen to Takeyashi's daring plan. Pantha would raise her hand to speak, "So you believe that those that siege us are ... being controlled by another, and that attacking that individual and ... killing them would stop those that attack us?" Clearly those of the village had no dealings with those who used such darker magics or abilities. Their call for help would further evidence that this was the first time dealing with that. At his request Pantha would agree to joining the four man team, at the request for a chameleon member. At the mention of them, one of them would appear. Curiously it would be a dwarf sized person, but the politically correct term would be 'small people'. He shift about as if he had an itch of sorts. He had fiery red hair and his skin tone was changing consistently. He didn't seem to know what he wanted to be, but a stern look from Cobrix would cause the changing to stop, which he would arrive to being pale ultimately. "Chamcham doesn't have manners." Pantha would speak on his behalf seeing as how their Chamelon party member seemed to be ... for the moment a mute. Their final party member would be another female, a slightly bulkier one that had could transform into a wolf. While she was not as big as those of the bear-line, she was certainly more muscular han Pantha or Chamcham.

"Snout." She would simply add as she was rubbing her muscles.

Final preparations were made, and mainly everyone seemed to be on the level, save for Chamcham who proved best at listening but not at speaking. It would stand to reason that Takeyashi could assume that the small person was a mute. Takeyashi would learn from Cobrix that there was a light, or wisp like entity that would blink at the darker parts in the night. This blinking could have been another camp fire like the one they were constructing or something else entirely. The lay of the land was flat, no hills or anything of the like. A rugged and tired land. Cobrix would be the last to leave as the third set of evacuees would head to Sungakure, the Toraono dojo most likely.
Houjin would remain with the fire to serve as a distraction too. Should Takeyashi hear the sounds of shouting and metal clanking, that would be the sign that the giant had engaged in combat.

As dusk would finally arrive, the team was ready. Pantha and Snout would take their animal forms. Cham cham would too transform but would shrink. He would sit on Takeyashi's head. Silence so far, but there was a beacon in the distance. A very slow blinking would be going off, like Cobrix would describe. Coming from that beacon were three shadowy figures. They did not walk limping, but they took normal strides. Not slow ones, but evenly spaced. It seemed that the fire had caught their attention. Snout let out a growl, she was itching for a fight, but would wait for Takeyashi's call. The farther the trio got closer to the fire, the more the blinking beacon would speed up. It would then simply begin to glow a strange eerily green colour, whereas before it was a simple white light.

 

[Kazu]

Nodding at Cobrix's suggestion to send a message to the village before hand, the young man began to move through a few basic seals. "Good call." A sand clone would appear at the young man's side, and would then promptly leave in the direction of the village. Now that that had been taken care of, Takeyashi would move to introduce himself to the newly arrived member of the Chameleon family; however, he soon learned that the oddly acting fellow was also mute. That was fine with the young Spiderling, and so he simply smiled and waved at Chamcham. He would instead introduce himself properly to Snout, a female member of the Wolf family. All in all, Takeyashi was very pleased with this assortment of teammates. They had stealth, power, and a wide range of senses to pull information from. Takeyashi was confident in this team, and knew that the four of them could properly take care of this situation. Bidding Houjin farewell and good luck, the young spiderling would take his new teammates and begin to head out into the Desert Expanse. They had a necromancer to kill.

Staying low and out of sight, Takeyashi hadn't even noticed that the rest of his squadron had transformed into their animal forms. That was for the best, after all. They would make their way towards the wispy light that Cobrix had described, though the young man wasn't very sure what it was. Takeyashi led his team as close as they could safely get before the silhouettes of the undead bandits came into their field of view. The young spiderling could hear Snout getting agitated by them, and knew he needed to say something to calm her. "Let them go. If we take out the one controlling them, we'll have defeated them too." Hopefully the wolf-woman would take his words to heart and keep her composure. He needed his team properly alert and focused if they were to defeat an enemy who so perfectly raised the dead. Their target was the beacon of flashing green light, whatever it was. They needed to get closer in order to see what was there, so Takeyashi instructed his squadron to circle around the bandits as they walked. Far enough away for them to not notice them, so that way they could slip behind the warriors and get to the real treasure.

Once they'd steered clear of that particular threat, Takeyashi directed the squad to get as close as possible to the glowing beacon. In fact, a brilliant idea came to him. Looking up at the chameleon resting on his head, the young man had a question to ask of Chamcham. "Can you change color in your human form? If so, I need you to scout ahead for us. You'd be just a tad too slow in your lycan form, huh?" Hopefully Chamcham understood and was willing to go through with that plan. Right now, they needed more information on this weird glowing beacon, and getting a closer look was one of the best ways to do it. Before they could proceed further, they'd need some more intel.

[ooc: Needed to be a little vague with my plans, because I needed to know what was at the beacon before making any real calls.]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Snout would listen to the Spiderling speak. She did a strange motion of running her namesake body part along the ground. She emitted a low growl, but did as she was instructed. As the three travelled past them, there seemed to be no sign that their position had been compromise, which was for the best. Above five minutes later they would here a great thud from the distance as a small dust cloud would kick up. It would seem that Houjin had joined in the fight as a tremendous roar of man would be heard. Indeed. It would seem that Houjin would get what he wanted. A fight.

Takeyashi spoke to Chamcham next. He gave the small person who sat on his head a suggestion. Chamcham would blink, not that Takeyashi would see. Pantha and Snout would see this. The lizard lycan would crawl down the side of Takeyashi's face and give him a pat on the side of the face. Not once, not twice, but thrice. To Takeyashi's surprise, the little lizard would crawl and crawl quickly. Before he knew it, the little lizard was out of his sight. The last thing Takeyashi would see was the lizard turning ivory white before changing colours and matching the surroundings. Snout would exchange glances with Pantha who was ... smiling? Yes, indeed she was. "Chamcham can do that? I didn't know that. That is ... ... neat." Snout would say as she blinked. Her voice was difficult to discern at first. It seemed far more heavily accented now.

The two ladies and the young man would see the light which was in the distance and still green rise now. Three more lights would appear, each of different colours now. Two on the left, violet and red. The one on the right was a blue colour. A very strange sound could be heard as if it was the breaking or snapping of wood. A howl, but not an animal howl could be heard coming from that point. "Chamcham doesn't howl. I can assure you that is not him..." Pantha would state as she watch another light form. There was an orange light take a spot right of the blue one. Snout's expression seemed to grow fierce. She began to growl and shake. Pantha too would seem to grow quite uncomfortable. "It seems wrong. It feels wrong."

Perhaps next to everyone's surprise Chamcham would return, but the lizard was now a ghastly shade of white. The little lizard crawled up and made his home now on Snout's head. The wolf's eye narrowed in annoyance as Chamcham was trying to hide himself in her fur now. The chameleon would poke his head out and look at Takeyashi. The lizard was shaking quite a bit, as he if had been scared to death perhaps. With a very shaky motion he would point in the direction of where he was. He would attempt to make gestures to signify that there was something big out there. Something that was big, something terrifying and something that was ... well... that was up to Takeyashi to understand. Chamcham had placed his hands on his head and made a circular motion. Something crazy? Something beyond his capability of understanding. From the distance they would hear that sound again, this time it sounded more like a groan. At the sound of it Chamcham would bury himself in Snout's fur again. "Come on Chamcham. Man up."