There's Something here

[Shinrya Riko]

Her first mission as a genin. It was easy to see why Komora was a good pick for this task. A lot of people had gone missing in this forest in the past. It was known for a fact that dangerous creatures and abominations lurked deep within the darkest bowels. For a time Komora’s own territory and bordered that of the deep lands and had somewhat protected the populace from the creatures rampaging free of the forest. She and the creatures of the deep forest had never met, but their paths had crossed many times and they had communicated warnings through the scents they left behind . Komora had been dressed by her sister. The mission was pretty simple. She had been given a garment and had been told to track down the scent that belonged to the garment. She would meet with a partner at the edge of the forest before continuing deeper into the woods and searching for the missing man.

To Komora, the status of the man didn’t matter all that much. She was just doing what she was told. Fortunately for this mission though, the person missing was a somebody. Somebody’s son to be specific. A wealthy merchant who was visiting Kumo from another county had stopped by to sell his goods. In the report it mentioned that the man was aware that his son was suffering from depression and now that his son has run away he is worried that the lad intended to throw himself to the beasts in the forest. For any normal person it would be too dangerous to pursue the young man, that is why this merchant turned to the shinobi of kumogakure.

He was definitely in luck since Komora knew the area so well. It would be a really simple fetch mission for her. Just follow the scent and bring the boy home. Of course, her judgement skills were lacking to a large degree, and thus it would be best to send someone additonal to provide back up and guidance if needed.

Komora was already at the edge of the trees. She sat on a high branch facing the foreboding darkness. She was just waiting for her companion on this journey now. She hummed to herself as she flicked her hair and twirled a kunai between her fingers. Her legs kicked playfull in the air below her as she waited. She had to muster all of the patience she had to keep herself from wondering off somewhere.

 

[Shieo]

Having unfurled a scroll. Eyes scanning over the contents that stretched within' with a careful stroke of the hand. Shieo had been called into the facilitator's office at the Academy-- Something that was not often done unless it was necessary or something was amiss.
After he had gone through the written contents, which ultimately described the aforementioned mission; and whom it was he would be accompanying they reached out to him. "We don't have many we can send out on this mission to oversee the task gets completed with a relative degree of safety-- And you have some experience dealing with the youth of this generation."
The individual that was addressing him was a Chūnin judging by their attire and age, no different than Shieo; but perhaps less suitable to be aiding Komora- Or at least that's what he figured.

"I s'pose I can lend a hand. But someone'll need to cover my class." He spoke with his usual low tonal-ranged voice, it carried itself with a drawl and emphasized a lack of sleep, his eyes too represented something of a drowsy state, nearly perpetually wearing a half-lidded guise. To anyone that was unfamiliar with Shieo, would likely consider him insufficient to at the very least, aid in this mission.
"Fear not, we have someone that can help with general studies. But please hurry, the rendezvous is on the outskirts of the woods."

With a drawn sigh , the man turned around and left the facility; gearing himself up as he wandered to the mission location.

---

Perhaps only a few minutes after Komora's arrival, the young man had strode along the path with a slouched posture and hands shoved firmly in his pant pockets. For all intents and purposes, his appearance and attitude exhumed an impressive aura of being run-of-the-mill. But they did send him, so there must have been some reason.

Having gotten himself within' ear-shot without shouting to Komora, he called out, firmly planting his feet down while he did so.

"Don't s'pose you're Komora, hmhm... I'm Shieo; it's been requested that I aid you in this search and rescue." Having been looking upwards to the young-girl, he looked un-phased by the brief history lesson of the girl, or perhaps he was ignorant too it. A difficult thing to discern, but what was known- Is he's here and now.

[MFT : 391]
[Sorry for late post, I got caught up in other things. I'll be proof-reading tomorrow for anything that makes no sense due to tired.]

 

[Shinrya Riko]

Komora looked down at the approaching fellow. Finally. She leapt from the tree and landed. She pulled out an old shirt and and inhaled the scent deeply. She then began at her work without saying much to the supervisor who had come to make sure she stayed on task. She crouched low to the ground and began to sniff around the edge of the forest like a blood hound. After a hour of tracing the edge it seemed like she had found something. She paused and checked to see if the supervisor was still there before she charged into the woods at a pace that was much faster than before. It was blinding to move through so many trees. She hadn’t been paying attention to the other scents when they came to the entrance of the cave.

What was this cave? It was humid. The sound of water echoed off of the walls. Birds chirped outside, but no insects of any kind made their home here. There were no bats hanging from the stalactites. As the red headed girl pressed forward into this new unexplored region of what she largely considered her own territory. Something was strange about this place. It wasn’t uncommon for people to go missing in the forest. Komora had stumbled across her share of bodies, and she could probably find them again if you asked her too. She was gazing into the depths of this cave with a soiled garment in her hand. The trail went further into the cave, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue. She inhaled the strong scent from the garment and compared it to the one on the forest floor.

There was no mistaking it. They would have to enter the cave in order to continue. The red headed girl was wearing a black coat and a pair of boots, but the sophistication of her dress aside, she moved like she was at home in this place. She circled the area, searching for signs of other animals but she found none. It concerned her that this territory was marked. The animals didn’t dare cross the barrier that had been created with the scent alone - but Komora knew the scent went deeper into the cave.

She looked at the chuunin. ”Komora doesn’t like this place. She wants to leave.”

 

[Shieo]

With nothing short of silence, Komora seemed to have only acknowledged his presence with movement and eyeing him for the briefest moments afore she stirred into an abnormal action. Which, over-all wasn't necessarily something that seemed to bother him judging by his body language and use of tone. "Off to the races with you I guess..." Exhuming a sigh, he pressed his hands further in his pant pockets and shimmied his Chunin vest to a slightly more comfortable position, all with the sole use of his elbows and shoulders.

His attention span was rather short lived and occurred in short-bursts, while he mainly used the sounds of her pittering about and sniffing to keep him on track; he was often found to bird-watching and eating snacks over the course of the hour. Beyond such, his instincts suggested that the senior's reports on her were of relative accuracy. That is of which, she wasn't much of a talker as she was a doer.
The peace lasted awhile, but once she darted into the woods. Both ears perked and he took into a slow paced acceleration to keep up with her. Which, very quickly came to realization was not an easy task for the mediocre physical shinobi.

Happening upon the cave through the blur of trees, brush and the occasional animal that was taken astir from their swift presence of entering the region they inhabited and leaving. Coming to a paced stop, the side of his face had a visible drip of sweat trickling down. "Whew... Fast bugger you are." With some time, the visual expression of her body and face of Komora resounded with the lingering chill with how lifeless things felt near the cave.
Of course, the details of the mission were vague due to the circumstances of the hire. Leading to such a remote place was concerning without a doubt, but they were being paid and gathering their own kind of experience being through these trials. When Komora had inevitably turned to him and expressed distinct lack of desire in being here; it held him choked on words for a solid five seconds as he gauged the situation. He was ultimately out of his element, out of necessity the teacher was assigned to proctor the mission and provide aid where and when necessary. Truthfully, his expectation was that there would be little intervention on his end; this was quickly brushed to the side.
Their eyes met and set; "Neither do I Komora; but we have a duty to fulfill. But we needn't worry; we're both capable individuals. No matter how spooky things 'aught to get." Finalizing his statement with a warm, if a bit sleepy smile.
His attire had been roughed up a bit through their trek, where Komora was masterful in the ways of the forest- Shieo's talents certainly were not. With dirt, loose branches and some leaves stuffed in segments that separated his clothing. His confidence was difficult to receive, but there was something at least there, after-all he had to act as the off-leader. No matter his reluctance.

With a flutter of his eyes and re-directing his perception to the innards of the cave. A deep breath and he started into the cave, hoping that the same sense of duty would be instilled into his comrade. It was then, he took his hands out of his pockets.

"Come now, we have a child to save."

 

[Shinrya Riko]

Komora watched the out of breath Shieo catch up to her. When she made her comments about not wanting to go ihe gave his own explanation of things. To Komora it wasn’t spooky. It was just a big predator’s territory that she wanted to avoid. But even the insects ignored the cave so that only spelled how dangerous it was. “Komora can smell it.” She explained. ”Komora smells the monster in the cave. The boy is in there too.” She pulled out the garment she had from before and took a deep sniff and looked back into the cave and took a sniff. ”Be ready to fight. He is not nice.”

She began to lead the way into the cave. She had a kunai in both hands as she made her way further down the cave corridor. The fine details were not lost. The texture of the cave was strange. It was as if the entire thing had been chewed through. Evidence of teeth gnashed the walls. The scent was also growing stronger. They must have traveled 200 feet when they finally met a place where multiple tunnels formed. The other tunnels didn’t matter to Komora. She was following the scent so there was little chance to be misled. She followed her nose to a shadowy place that was actually hiding a tunnel. It would have been easy to walk past it without Komora’s tracking abilities.

She realized that it was starting to get too dark to see in the tunnels. This also didn’t bother her, but she was sure that it would cause problems for her companion. She pulled out a flare from her pouch, ignited it and handed it to Shiheo. ”Getting Closer. Get ready for fighting.” She explained. As if to emphasize this point there was a low howl that sounded like several creatures at once crying out in unison. The sound made Komora’s hair stand on end. ”Komora thinks that this monster took the boy.” She explained. ”The scent goes into the tunnels deeper and deeper.”

She was putting on a brave face, but she was actually really scared of whatever had just made that sound. Her body was shaking ever so subtly as she pushed forwarded to go ever deeper into the cave.

 

[Shieo]

While things lingered further and further into the canvas of darkness and shadow. His vision truly did obscure, he could make out the minor details of the cavern and its intertwined tunnels. Perhaps a gesture that was something of relief, the young girl had cracked a flare and offered it to him. Taking it with a dip of his head in appreciation, he held it forwards intent on knowing what was ahead of them at all times.

The sounds drawled throughout the stonework like chitin to chalk; it was disturbing on a different level, something he certainly had not heard before.

”Getting Closer. Get ready for fighting.” "
"Komora thinks that this monster took the boy.”
"The scent goes into the tunnels deeper and deeper.”

Her words did not fall on deaf ears, but those of someone too stubborn to call it quits when he was assigned a mission; as rare as it was. While the two were deathly ill-prepared for what lingered ahead, he merely gave her a reassuring smile. There was an underlying understanding that the two wouldn't have been necessarily tasked with this, without some vote of confidence from their superiors, and so he spoke in a hushed tone. "We can do this, if the monster took the boy, it only means we have a young-soul is hinged on our success. And we've no room for failure, so despite the fact this bleedin' things giving me the goose-bumps before we see it. We still need to press forth" His half-lidded eyes curled as he smiled, having tucked the flare between his arm-pits for a moment while he fished out a pair of combatant gloves, each with strange flutes that flowed with the fabric.
Once fitted, he re-drew the flare and started down further into the depths, the guttural roars and sounds that emerged from the tunnels grew louder and more vibrant in its tones.
It wasn't until about a hundred feet from their position that the tunnels made a sudden and abrupt drop; but what seemed like it went into a large chamber of nothingness, was quickly removed from thought as there was a faint glimmer that flickered off the flares illumination. Moments after this realization; he heard quiet whimpering from a small crevice off on the opposite end of this chamber that spanned about a hundred and fifty feet wide and long. Matched with two white orbs that reflected the light.

With some prompt action, he tossed the flare down to gauge the distance and perhaps what the emanating reflection was. It wasn't until it hit the ground that his stomach sank ever so painfully when something happened to look at the flare and inevitably at them-- He thought.

"Yare that's a big one... Komora, seems we definitely need to pump up our game a bit." With a quick (and pungent regret) sniff, he slapped his face with both hands and rolled his shoulders; his eyes un-lidding and his attentiveness seemed to raise ever so slightly.

"Ready?" And he leaped down.

[MFT = 505]