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Gashadokuro had traveled for days towards the location of the secret Myakashi lab hidden within the country of Moon. When he needed sleep he would summon Urufuebi, his son's twelve foot long sea monster gifted to him by the Queen of the Mists, the monster would carry him through his rest so that their pace would never slow. He knew his son was safe but he had an appointment to keep... Fifteen days, over land and water, beneath the storms... He would be there in fifteen days.
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Thunderheads rolled in the distance over the tumultuous oceans surrounding the entire island as he made his way towards the Myakashi Medical Facility designation 146, an old Myakashi facility from before the Samurai invasion. To the best of his knowledge the facility had been positioned on the side of a large mountain but as he approached the location he was met with an astounding sight. In place of a concealed entrance stood a moderate sized village, smoke coiling from multiple chimneys mingling with the ever present mists. He focused his old eyes, concentrating on the banners hanging from some of the buildings. "Myakashi Clan banners... It appears our family has been busy these past two weeks Uru..."
He stated as he scratched the top of the large creatures head, the beast purred a deep grumble in response before fading into the mists, returning to the spirit world with one final deep rumble, leaving the man alone on the mountain side.
Yong chuckled at the beasts response and sudden departure, "...pleasure chatting with you as always Urufuebi."
Cursed chakra pulsed from his multiple cursed seals, making his form shimmer into almost perfect invisibility. Utilising supernatural shinobi speed enhanced with gravitational 'jinking' Yong dashed from building to building through the small village, scanning the people going about their lives. He crouched on the roof of a larger building overlooking what must be the centre of the town, looking for a particular chakra signature amongst the small crowd. Whilst he searched the crowd something found him instead...
BITTTTCCCCCHHHH!!!! The battlecry bypassed his ears, entering his brain directly through telepathic means. The diminutive wooden marionette 'puppet' slammed harmlessly against his armour before it ricocheted back onto the roof, sliding backwards in a tumbled mess. The puppet dramatically leapt to its feet, shaking itself off with enthusiasm before realigning the tiny, single horned helmet on its small head.
The puppet leapt forward once again, telepathically screaming his battlecry once more... BITTTTCCCCCHHHH!!!
Gashadokuro waved his hand haphazardly through the air, catching the puppet limply in mid-flight, spinning slowly in place as if dangling from a string. "Hi Mikki..."
Hey Yong. Why are you invisible? Why are you on the roof? Why are you wearing that stuff? Why didn't you come home sooner?
Gashadokuro responded quickly to the puppets rapid fire questions, "For stealth. Because it's high. It's my new armour..." The last question caught him of guard, his voice catching momentarily in his throat, "I... I thought you were dead Mikki... I thought you were both dead... I'm sorry..."
A child like laugh intruded his mind, the small puppet lifting his hands above his head in mock exasperation, Thats just stupid Yong! Did you get dumb because I wasn't there to teach you smart stuff? We are both immortal, stupid! Me more than him but he is still a bit immortal, not more than me though I'm proper immortal! Can I get down now? Floating is stupid...
Gashadokuro turned his attention back to the square as the puppet clattered unceremoniously to the tiled roof. A 'click clack' sounded from behind him as the puppet clambered across the roof, up his body and onto his shoulder. The simple action bringing a strange comfort to the old shinobi, loosing himself in the forgotten familiarity of the small puppets weight on his shoulder. His reverie broke as the puppet 'spoke' once more...
What are we looking for?
"Migoya... Is he down there? I can't see his chakra..."
Mikki leaned forward, pointing with a fingerless hand to a robed young man strolling casually through the small crowd. He is right there... I thought you had bird's eyes...
He focused his gaze on the robed man, gasping internally as he realised the young man was indeed his younger brother. The years had been supernaturally kind to the albino shinobi. Gashadokuro spoke under his breath, "He looks so young..."
Yeah... He's got worms... You gonna' attack him now?
"Yep..."
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The armoured shinobi landed dramatically in the street in front of Migoya. The intruder wore a demon mask, red glowing eyes staring deeply into Migoya's. Rain started to fall onto the scene, the water running down the masked shinobi's armour. He placed his hand on the hilt of his katana, drawing the blade an inch... All very dramatic...
Then Mikki landed between them...
Migoya! Its Yong! He is trying to surprise you with a surprise attack so act surprised ok!
Gashadokuro shook his head slightly, removing his mask to reveal a grin and a wink before replacing his mask once more.
"Suprise..."
It had been forty five years since they had last crossed blades and wits. This should be good.
Gashadokuro could not help but laugh for a moment as the diminutive puppet whooped as it ran to clear the room for two of the masters of the Myakashi Clan to enjoy their long overdue reunion. It was his first mistake…
In the short moment his attention was diverted Migoya sprang (figuratively) into action, sending clones of himself onto the battlefield. He closed his eyes, feeling the battlefield around him with his unholy senses. The world changed in his mind’s eye, a spectrum of indescribable colour’s replaced the drab mortal world. It gave him the edge he needed to discern truth from untruth, puppet from flesh and blood.
He visibly flinched and released his grip on his weapon as his power washed over Migoya. Flairs of light shone brightly where his brother had stood, coiled by countless, chakra fuelled tendrils writhing through every part of his body.
Worms indeed… what have you done brother… it is beautiful…
His hands moved quickly to an outstretched position, already beginning to fly through esoteric handseals as they reached maximum extension. If Migoya’s memory was still strong and he looked far enough into the distant past, he may recognise some of the motions from his brother’s studies and outright fascination with the subject of demonology. Forty five years ago the handseals, motions and symbols had only been theory and conjecture, a fancy of young excited minds.
Forty five years was a long, long time.
Thunder rolled as the storm redoubled its fury, now assisted by the chakra flowing from his rapidly moving hands. His hands, now glowing slightly, ceased their movements as lightning cracked the sky. As the lightning momentarily bathed the scene in brilliant, incandescent light Gashadokuro was no longer alone. A small, sinuous crustacean creature burst into existence, swimming through the raindrops and air around Gashadokuro like it was the ocean, circling its summoner like schooling fish (if a single fish could school that is). If Migoya looked closely he would see lines of red begin to scatter over the exoskeleton as cursed seal chakra began to course through its small body.
His hand once again moved to the hilt of his weapon, his left foot sliding backwards as he drew the blade.
Now… on with the show…
An audible sonic boom cut through the air as old warrior blurred into motion, faster than the speed of sound from a standing start. In truth Gashadokuro had not realised he could move this fast until this very moment, the blessed chakra of the God-Queen mingling with his own cursed chakra was having a synergetic effect. The world seemed to stand still, raindrops caught in the air mid freefall. He would not let his surprise show though… not that any human would notice it at the speed he was moving.
Twenty one cuts… each deep enough that they would be keenly felt by his younger brother… tearing through Migoya’s armour as if it had been made of paper as the blur with a weapon continued its assault.
Unable to maintain such speed for long though, Gashadokuro slid to a halt a few yards behind the now bleeding Migoya, their backs towards each other. He theatrically sheathed his blade with a metallic ‘click’. He would hear audible gasps come from the numerous Myakashi clan members observing the reunion from a ‘safe’ distance. He turned once more to look at his brother, to see that he had not hurt the man too much in his quick display. The grin on the younger man’s face registered only a moment before Gashadokuro felt himself slammed with invisible force. As his world spun for a fraction of a second before he slumped to the ground, unconsciousness claiming him.
Dam... over already…
The cold rain brought him back to consciousness from his 'sleep' of indeterminate length. Blurry eyes scanned the area for his brother but he was nowhere to be seen. Then the realisation (and full consciousness) hit him... Urufuebi was also nowhere to be seen...
Urufuebi? Can you hear me?
Gashadokuro quickly regained his feet, his demonic senses and Urufuebi's lack of telepathic response indicated to him that they were both no longer in the general vicinity. Gashadokuro knew better though, his brother would not abandon their reunion so easily and simply leave him in the rain. No, this was something else. He would have to stay on his guard, Migoya would reveal himself in time.
His enhanced senses could hear the murmurs of the watching Myakashi, by their tone he gleaned that this was a familiar tactic of Migoya's, overhearing the phrase 'divide and conquer' and 'off to the void' from more than one mouth... For now all he could do was wait.
Gashadokuro chuckled slightly as his brother failed to return to this position in time and space.
The tattooed shinobi flexed his well-toned muscles. The air sizzled as it came in contact with his ink saturated skin. Cursed Seals interlaced between, on and through his tattooed skin began to blister away visibly for a split second before becoming momentary obscured by a burst steam. The steam covered the muscle bound, 'young' shinobi completely, like a localised smoke-bomb in roughly shinobi shaped vacuum.
When the haze cleared there stood a short, rather skinny old man with a sheepish grin beneath kindly squinting eyes. He wore simple robes, worn with age and the scares of countless repairs. His old eyes recognising some even older faces just now joining the crowed of eager clan members. The old man gently nodded his head in what could quite possibly be misinterpreted as a bow...
The wrinkled face winked theatrically towards a group of awestruck youths sitting on the top of a nearby cart. "For is it not written 'I'm not as green as I'm cabbage-looking...'" Gashadokuro's voice remained unchanged despite the drastic change in outer appearance, though now possessing the growl of one who has been slightly to familiar with hard liquor and tobacco for far too many years. He reached his wrinkly hand towards a broom leaning casually between two of the children, "Rule number two... Never refuse a weapon." Returning to the impromptu sparing dojo (more commonly referred to as a market place...) Gashadokuro turned once more to the gathered young folk, "By any chance has anyone here heard of Rule number one?"
Before any could answer the old man knew his wait was over, his supernatural sixth sense pulling his focus to an empty space some feet off of the ground. Scant fractions of a second later the acrid scent of ozone filled the air as writhing tendrils impaled the world from some other, darker place. Gravity rippled around the old man, warping time in a bubble around him like a cloak. His world began to fade through shades of blue through to grey as everything around him began to move as if through treacle. Raindrops hung in the air, perceived in slow motion despite their speed never changing.
He saw the lightning bolt streaking through the air with startling speed (Lightning speed?) in the grey/blue world of treacle time… Only seeing too late the second and third coiled black ‘worm’ things materialising out of the air a few feet either side of the path that the bolt travelled.
Shit! Gashadokuro screamed silently in his own mind as the raw electricity began to make its way through his body, the lightning moving faster than he could ever hope to evade. The kinetic energy of the direct hit lifted him from the ground. The shock and pain coursing through his body pulled him back to normal time with a start. Hawk like eyes locked their focus on this most recent threat, momentarily forgetting the original point of focus. It was a mistake for the split second of distraction was all his brother’s monster had needed to follow up the barrage from an unavoidable angle. Kinetic infused fire screamed as it tore itself through the dimensions, engulfing his already airborne form.
As his body rag-dolled through the air, Gashadokuro felt the sickeningly familiar wet crack as bones fractured under the extreme kinetic forces brought to bear against the old man from an undefended angle. Gashadokuro tumbled once across the wet cobblestone before sliding to a stop with both feet, legs outstretched and his left hand grazing the ground. Demonic blood ran through his veins (not to mention his left ear, nose, mouth and various ‘new’ holes and abrasions) propelled by an adrenaline inspired human heart. The rain sizzled millimetres above his scorching skin, turning to steam before fading to nothing. Taking a deep breath the old shinobi prepared himself for what was to come next, for despite the brutality of the attack Migoya had himself not returned to the battlefield. If he knew his brother half as well as he thought he did Migoya was not one to let an injured foe recover. But when he eventually showed himself, Gashadokuro would be ready… hopefully…
The old man held his stance, his right hand still clutching the broom like a weapon behind him. The world faded through greys and blues once more as time bent around his like a cloak. The air rippled ever so slightly but his sharp senses noticed the ‘slip’.
Gotchya!
As the black garb Myakashi broke back into this plain of existence Migoya’s white staff was already in full motion, directing a mighty blow towards his head. With inhuman speed the old man avoided the blow, flashing past his determined brother, his broom arcing through the air at supersonic speed towards the back his long lost and well-loved brother’s neck. The timber slowing a hairs breadth from impact, gently connecting with the exposed neck with no more force than the raindrops around them.
Migoya turned slowly, as if the simple action was a great effort to achieve. His expression plainly questioning why the strike had been stopped. They both seemed to be under the effects of some sort of chakra and physical bind, slowing their movements to a snail’s pace and even then with supreme effort.
”Don’t look at me brother, I was going to knock you lights out…" The old man chuckled, blood running down his chin, dripping down like a low pressure faucet and mingling with the wet road.
”Stop being silly boys, you are getting blood all over the place!” A solitary, shawl wrapped old woman, obviously well into her ‘golden’ years moved sternly towards the chakra bound pair. ”It’s good to see you Yong-Chan… and don’t think you are too old for me to teach you two some better manners boys…” She pulled her shawl tighter around her frail frame, ”Now, go wrap up warm or you'll catch your death. ”
As the undetectable chakra bind was released the two brother’s slumped to their knees, their genuine laughter filled the air as the seriousness of the small, old woman’s scolding took them to memories of their shared youth…
Yong slung his arm over Migoya’s similarly slumped, severely bleeding body. The brothers embraced in exhaustion as their blood flowed together into the muddy puddle they both currently knelt in.
”It is good to see you Spooks.”