The sunset in the land of Wind was always a spectacular sight, the shifting oranges of the sands blending with the brightness of the sun, until it cast its purple hues over the dusk sky. The mountainous range system here, in what was often called ‘Godsfall’ due to some ancient conflict, jut out from the sands in irregular jagged fingers, as if something from far below the ground was trying to reach upwards. Or to escape.
A small fire burned, casting shadows around the medium-sized adobe enclosure. Mikki assumed that it once had been a tavern of some type, judging by the bar and broken furniture, but neglect and time had done its level best to wear it away. Forgotten to time it seemed, it had been the best place for a bandit encampment to weather the storm and plot their nefarious needs.
Despite the protective and almost homely nature of the inn, the normally cheerful Mikki was in a bit of a slump. He had been told off by someone he actually cared about and the next moment he had been sent away on a mission to find the very person who had told him that he was an idiot. For a former tsukomgami it was all getting a bit too emotional for his liking. Since Kiko’s departure, chasing after the idiots who had attacked Suna’s gates, Mikki had been in hot pursuit. She was notoriously difficult to track if she didn't want to be, and the poor puppet had struggled to stay directly on her trail. There were simply too many side-quests for him to enjoy.
For one, he had come across a really-really scary guy that decided that he was apparently a ‘good mark’. Mikki had hoped that meant an A+ but apparently that meant something completely different. He had been travelling in his old lady costume, Nana dangly-bits, but apparently that had not dissuaded the man from trying to kill him for money. What a rude creature! After attacking the old woman, and finding out that the woman was quite capable of fighting back, the man had managed to retreat, running towards this particular building.
Now, Mikki wasn't the wisest of creatures despite his age, but every now and then experience won over his bloodlust. He saw the strange man enter this building, and noticed that several horses had been tied up. This clearly indicated that there were more people inside - perhaps even the group that had caused the slaughter at the gates of Suna.
With a little bit of concentration, Mikki ‘slipped’ out of Nana Danglybits and emerged in all of his 35cm glory, placing the large puppet into a storage scroll. Now was the time for being quiet and stealthy, not for being a smelly old woman. He slowly walked around the building, ensuring that he couldn't be seen by use of a camouflage jutsu taught to him by Yong. The building was two stories tall, but looked like it hadn't been maintained in quite some time. If it were not for the horses, and what smelled like roasting beef wafting from inside, one could guess it had been long abandoned. He moved closer.
“You got beaten… by an old lady?”, someone chuckled, albeit in a restrained manner.
“Hey! She turned out to be a water user… and you know I don’t do well against them”, the man, whose voice Mikki recognised, responded.
“So did you need help beating up this old lady?”, a female voice purred, clearly enjoying teasing the man.
“Bah! Shut up or Ill burn your face off!”.
“If you could find it.” the other man’s voice chuckled quietly. “I do not like you threatening the lady though”.
“I saw how she ran that man through the other day - the one begging for mercy. She ain’t no lady”.
The woman’s chuckle added to the perverse mirth of the trio.
So… it seemed there were three of them. One of them, the fire guy, seemed to be the weaker of the trio, something Mikki knew as he had engaged the man. He used a tonne of fire jutsu, but Nana Dangly bits was a water-type and had easily extinguished him. Still, Mikki knew it would be dumb to fight all three of them at once. This would take, what did Migoya call it?
Strategy. Divide and conquer.
……………………………
Mortals always tended to have to, well, defecate and they always found out of the way places to do it. Normally, they would have a special room in their homes to do this, or at least somewhere close by, but it seemed the inn hadnt been modernised in quite some time. It wasnt long after the conversation that Mikki overheard that one of the figures venturing out.
Modesty was also something mortals cared a lot about and so when this man, not the one he had fought previously, walked out he went towards the closest area that provided a measure of privacy. Just like Mikki had expected. Mortals were so predicable when it came to weeing and pooping.
The man’s face had been priceless as he started to wee, before a deadly amount of electricity arched up his, well, ‘bits’ and shocking him prone. Mikki had quickly jammed several poisoned senbon into his stunned form, noting how effective his traps had been. Perhaps Migoya’s insistence on strategy was worthwhile.
The man seemed to struggle a bit, as if fighting off the poison. Mikki clambered up the mans shoulder, noting that he seemed to be dressed as some sort of religious type. Mikki HATED religious people after his experiences in Moon country, and being tortured by Raiden fanatics in Cloud country. Not to mention, this one was clearly a bandit or baddie, and hypocrites were next to Hokage’s on Mikki’s to kill list.
Oh, he would have spent some time savouring the man’s form as he stayed electrocuted and poisoned, but… strategy. The last thing the monk would see was a razor-sharp blade coming out from a 35cm tall puppet and being plunged through his eye socket into his brain.
………………………………………….
The sound of a horse whining as it reared up greeted the final two baddies not long after, causing one of them, the strange red-headed man Mikki had fought previously, to rush out of the inn. The sight of the three horses bolting into the desert gave the man pause for a second, before he shouted back into the inn.
“Ryomi! The fucking horses are loose! Wheres Hyo - still taking a dump. Fuck’s sake!”
Turning towards the horse, the man started to run, boosted it seemed by chakra. Soon the other ‘baddie’ would appear, a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in tight-fitting leathers. She seemed rather cool about the situation, but looked carefully at where the horses had been tethered. Moving over to inspect the ropes, she clearly had figured out that they had been cut. She looked upwards, seemingly to try and stop her companion who was now running into the desert after the horses.
She chuckled, coming to an obvious conclusion.
“You can come out now. You might as well after all. If you are a skilled warrior, let us fight honourably… or maybe I could convince you to warm yourself by my fire if you are handsome”.
Now, normally a person, especially of the male persuasion, might be dumb enough to fall for such obvious tricks, but Mikki wasn’t exactly… equipped to deal with that scenario. All he knew is this woman was a baddie, and needed to die. But she might be more powerful than he was… so a direct assault would be stupid. And he had already been really stupid lately and really couldn’t upset Kiko or Migoya again.
So he tried to be smart.
A very handsome man (err puppet… but it wasnt obvious) would appear from around the corner, invisibly puppeteered by the master puppet himself.
“Well. Who could say no to an offer like that pretty lady.”
“You aren’t so bad yourself”, the woman cooed, moving sensually, ‘timelessly’ towards the man. “So… setting free my horses. That was naughty”.
“Oh… naughty is my middle name.” the man flirted, moving closer.
Without a seconds breath, the woman appeared behind the man, plunging a poisoned tipped kunai into his back. She was impossibly fast, and Mikki hadnt gotten the time to react. Her beautiful face smiled evilly, distorting slowly though as she realised that the man she had stabbed was in fact… wooden.
Mikki would have smirked if he had a mouth. He twitched a little finger.
The explosion was intense, pushing the woman backwards and slamming her into a nearby wall. The sickening crunch of broken bones was heard shortly afterwards, and, to her credit, the woman tried to get back onto her feet. But Mikki was quicker, surprisingly, and once again his poisons did their deadly task.
………………………….
“Where is everyone? I couldn’t get the horses… whatever spooked them did a good jo…”
The man’s face paled, as he looked at the scene before him. His two comrades now hung lifelessly, suspended by what appeared to be ninja wire, making them look strangely enough like puppets dancing on a string. The old woman who he had seen before, was sharpening what seemed to be two big butcher knives, her old, wrinkly face beaming with pleasure.
“Ah… you took longer than I thought. Oh well, the more the marinade, the sweeter the taste.”
The man, so often a hot head, paled and turned to run through the door. The door slammed in his face, pulled by what appeared to be another of the strings which then started to wrap around him. Concentrating, the man erupted into a plume of flame.
“If Im going down devil woman, you are too!”
The old hag laughed evilly before opening up her dress. The sight would have scared anyone, let alone a poor tied up flaming man, but his fears were only compounded as a torrent of water gushed forward, dampening his flame. He turned once again to escape this ultimate evil, hoping beyond hope to flee this nightmare!
The buzzsaws began.
—-----------------------------------------
It had been a twinge in the back of his mind, a calling that he knew all too well. The Myakashi seal had been activated and Kiko was close. He would call to her now, as he had news to tell her, and he also hoped to beg for forgiveness for his stupidity.
Also, he now had three bodies hanging from the roof and he wanted her expert opinion on… transforming them. And there was some more cooked meat over the fire. Perhaps there was some beer!
It was an old fashioned cook out!
Something, somewhere, was making Mikki feeling better.
[WC: 1792]
A small fire burned, casting shadows around the medium-sized adobe enclosure. Mikki assumed that it once had been a tavern of some type, judging by the bar and broken furniture, but neglect and time had done its level best to wear it away. Forgotten to time it seemed, it had been the best place for a bandit encampment to weather the storm and plot their nefarious needs.
Despite the protective and almost homely nature of the inn, the normally cheerful Mikki was in a bit of a slump. He had been told off by someone he actually cared about and the next moment he had been sent away on a mission to find the very person who had told him that he was an idiot. For a former tsukomgami it was all getting a bit too emotional for his liking. Since Kiko’s departure, chasing after the idiots who had attacked Suna’s gates, Mikki had been in hot pursuit. She was notoriously difficult to track if she didn't want to be, and the poor puppet had struggled to stay directly on her trail. There were simply too many side-quests for him to enjoy.
For one, he had come across a really-really scary guy that decided that he was apparently a ‘good mark’. Mikki had hoped that meant an A+ but apparently that meant something completely different. He had been travelling in his old lady costume, Nana dangly-bits, but apparently that had not dissuaded the man from trying to kill him for money. What a rude creature! After attacking the old woman, and finding out that the woman was quite capable of fighting back, the man had managed to retreat, running towards this particular building.
Now, Mikki wasn't the wisest of creatures despite his age, but every now and then experience won over his bloodlust. He saw the strange man enter this building, and noticed that several horses had been tied up. This clearly indicated that there were more people inside - perhaps even the group that had caused the slaughter at the gates of Suna.
With a little bit of concentration, Mikki ‘slipped’ out of Nana Danglybits and emerged in all of his 35cm glory, placing the large puppet into a storage scroll. Now was the time for being quiet and stealthy, not for being a smelly old woman. He slowly walked around the building, ensuring that he couldn't be seen by use of a camouflage jutsu taught to him by Yong. The building was two stories tall, but looked like it hadn't been maintained in quite some time. If it were not for the horses, and what smelled like roasting beef wafting from inside, one could guess it had been long abandoned. He moved closer.
“You got beaten… by an old lady?”, someone chuckled, albeit in a restrained manner.
“Hey! She turned out to be a water user… and you know I don’t do well against them”, the man, whose voice Mikki recognised, responded.
“So did you need help beating up this old lady?”, a female voice purred, clearly enjoying teasing the man.
“Bah! Shut up or Ill burn your face off!”.
“If you could find it.” the other man’s voice chuckled quietly. “I do not like you threatening the lady though”.
“I saw how she ran that man through the other day - the one begging for mercy. She ain’t no lady”.
The woman’s chuckle added to the perverse mirth of the trio.
So… it seemed there were three of them. One of them, the fire guy, seemed to be the weaker of the trio, something Mikki knew as he had engaged the man. He used a tonne of fire jutsu, but Nana Dangly bits was a water-type and had easily extinguished him. Still, Mikki knew it would be dumb to fight all three of them at once. This would take, what did Migoya call it?
Strategy. Divide and conquer.
……………………………
Mortals always tended to have to, well, defecate and they always found out of the way places to do it. Normally, they would have a special room in their homes to do this, or at least somewhere close by, but it seemed the inn hadnt been modernised in quite some time. It wasnt long after the conversation that Mikki overheard that one of the figures venturing out.
Modesty was also something mortals cared a lot about and so when this man, not the one he had fought previously, walked out he went towards the closest area that provided a measure of privacy. Just like Mikki had expected. Mortals were so predicable when it came to weeing and pooping.
The man’s face had been priceless as he started to wee, before a deadly amount of electricity arched up his, well, ‘bits’ and shocking him prone. Mikki had quickly jammed several poisoned senbon into his stunned form, noting how effective his traps had been. Perhaps Migoya’s insistence on strategy was worthwhile.
The man seemed to struggle a bit, as if fighting off the poison. Mikki clambered up the mans shoulder, noting that he seemed to be dressed as some sort of religious type. Mikki HATED religious people after his experiences in Moon country, and being tortured by Raiden fanatics in Cloud country. Not to mention, this one was clearly a bandit or baddie, and hypocrites were next to Hokage’s on Mikki’s to kill list.
Oh, he would have spent some time savouring the man’s form as he stayed electrocuted and poisoned, but… strategy. The last thing the monk would see was a razor-sharp blade coming out from a 35cm tall puppet and being plunged through his eye socket into his brain.
………………………………………….
The sound of a horse whining as it reared up greeted the final two baddies not long after, causing one of them, the strange red-headed man Mikki had fought previously, to rush out of the inn. The sight of the three horses bolting into the desert gave the man pause for a second, before he shouted back into the inn.
“Ryomi! The fucking horses are loose! Wheres Hyo - still taking a dump. Fuck’s sake!”
Turning towards the horse, the man started to run, boosted it seemed by chakra. Soon the other ‘baddie’ would appear, a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in tight-fitting leathers. She seemed rather cool about the situation, but looked carefully at where the horses had been tethered. Moving over to inspect the ropes, she clearly had figured out that they had been cut. She looked upwards, seemingly to try and stop her companion who was now running into the desert after the horses.
She chuckled, coming to an obvious conclusion.
“You can come out now. You might as well after all. If you are a skilled warrior, let us fight honourably… or maybe I could convince you to warm yourself by my fire if you are handsome”.
Now, normally a person, especially of the male persuasion, might be dumb enough to fall for such obvious tricks, but Mikki wasn’t exactly… equipped to deal with that scenario. All he knew is this woman was a baddie, and needed to die. But she might be more powerful than he was… so a direct assault would be stupid. And he had already been really stupid lately and really couldn’t upset Kiko or Migoya again.
So he tried to be smart.
A very handsome man (err puppet… but it wasnt obvious) would appear from around the corner, invisibly puppeteered by the master puppet himself.
“Well. Who could say no to an offer like that pretty lady.”
“You aren’t so bad yourself”, the woman cooed, moving sensually, ‘timelessly’ towards the man. “So… setting free my horses. That was naughty”.
“Oh… naughty is my middle name.” the man flirted, moving closer.
Without a seconds breath, the woman appeared behind the man, plunging a poisoned tipped kunai into his back. She was impossibly fast, and Mikki hadnt gotten the time to react. Her beautiful face smiled evilly, distorting slowly though as she realised that the man she had stabbed was in fact… wooden.
Mikki would have smirked if he had a mouth. He twitched a little finger.
The explosion was intense, pushing the woman backwards and slamming her into a nearby wall. The sickening crunch of broken bones was heard shortly afterwards, and, to her credit, the woman tried to get back onto her feet. But Mikki was quicker, surprisingly, and once again his poisons did their deadly task.
………………………….
“Where is everyone? I couldn’t get the horses… whatever spooked them did a good jo…”
The man’s face paled, as he looked at the scene before him. His two comrades now hung lifelessly, suspended by what appeared to be ninja wire, making them look strangely enough like puppets dancing on a string. The old woman who he had seen before, was sharpening what seemed to be two big butcher knives, her old, wrinkly face beaming with pleasure.
“Ah… you took longer than I thought. Oh well, the more the marinade, the sweeter the taste.”
The man, so often a hot head, paled and turned to run through the door. The door slammed in his face, pulled by what appeared to be another of the strings which then started to wrap around him. Concentrating, the man erupted into a plume of flame.
“If Im going down devil woman, you are too!”
The old hag laughed evilly before opening up her dress. The sight would have scared anyone, let alone a poor tied up flaming man, but his fears were only compounded as a torrent of water gushed forward, dampening his flame. He turned once again to escape this ultimate evil, hoping beyond hope to flee this nightmare!
The buzzsaws began.
—-----------------------------------------
It had been a twinge in the back of his mind, a calling that he knew all too well. The Myakashi seal had been activated and Kiko was close. He would call to her now, as he had news to tell her, and he also hoped to beg for forgiveness for his stupidity.
Also, he now had three bodies hanging from the roof and he wanted her expert opinion on… transforming them. And there was some more cooked meat over the fire. Perhaps there was some beer!
It was an old fashioned cook out!
Something, somewhere, was making Mikki feeling better.
[WC: 1792]
