It'd been a long time since Aya went out searching for something, though at this point, what was she even doing anymore? She was out in the land of fire, she stated it was for more training, but what was the point of training anymore? She wouldn't get any stronger it seemed, the five years she spent training, and now everything seemed to have changed. She planned on only coming here to the valley, only to climb up to the mountains again, at this point, it didn't feel like much of a challenge anymore. Maybe she should just settle and try to actually rank up like her teammates? She wasn't sure she wanted a rank or to be remembered as Eiji does. Ryu also had made a name for himself, or at least that's what he claims.
It was wintertime, and so it was cold and snowy. Aya was dressed warmer than she normally would have been, but she only had a pair of pants, and a short-sleeved shirt. If she put too many layers on, it'd be too hard to move, after all, well it'd actually just be more uncomfortable than anything. Aya had her crimson hair up in two pigtails, a childish hairstyle, but she felt like a child at heart still, and didn't want to 'grow up'. She did want to get stronger, but that seemed to be something she was struggling with.
While Aya was filling her back with rocks, to maybe increase the carry weight she sensed something flying at her, but she did not dodge it. Was it because she couldn't? Who knows, but it hit her smack dab right in the middle of the back of her head then it bounced onto the ground and started to roll. It made a squishing sound and left a juicy residue behind on her head. Aya rubbed the back of her head and looked at the object, it was a peach. "Huh, Why'd a peach get thrown at me?" She stated then looked behind her. She sensed someone there, in the trees, but she didn't feel like engaging with someone throwing peaches. The trees were bare, so it made it pointless hiding there, but the branches obscured the view well enough to make it hard to see who exactly was there. The peach hurt, but it wasn't going to kill her. SO she let out a sigh and went back to packing her bag.
Another peach came flying at her, and this time she managed to catch it. "Okay, knock that off!" She stated and fully turned towards the person she sensed. She didn't see them, but she knew they were in the trees.
"Make me, Ha!" A low, but nasally voice retorted, and started laughing. No, it sounded like a monkey?
"Oh, well since you asked," Aya smirked, then slipped on her gloves. "But I'll make you wish you didn't mess with me." She said as she charged the being, using her Seikon speed to quickly close the distance. When she laid eyes on the person, she saw it was indeed a monkey, a big one with what looked like armor and a Bo. She hesitated when she saw him, and that gave him the chance to whack her with his Bo smacking her into the ground.
"I thought you were going to to be an actual challenge, Ha, -" He started, but was interrupted when Aya appeared in front of him and did a sweeping kick to knock him out of the trees.
"Don't underestimate me, I just didn't expect to meet a monkey out here." Aya snickered, She enjoyed sparing.
"Oh? Well, tell ya what." The monkey stood and dusted himself off. "If you can catch - wait no, " He started, then remembered her speed. He crossed his arms and reached to rub his chin.
Aya intrigued, sat on a tree branch, and took a bite of the peach she caught earlier. "I'm waiting." She stated, in a light tone of voice.
"Ah! I know, Let's play a game, I'll throw peaches at you, and if you get hit three times, you lose. After five minutes, you win." The monkey stated and nodded to himself.
"Hmmm.... I'll take the challenge," Aya stated, then stood.
"Not even going to ask what you'll win? Ha, I like that. By the way, you've already been hit once, so I only have to hit you two more times!" The monkey stated the prepared another peach to throw from his pouch on his side.
"What?! That shouldn't count!" Aya stated, then began to move through the trees to make herself harder to hit.
With that, The monkey pulled out a tiny hourglass and flipped it, then he clipped it to his hip.
"Well, you shouldn't have let me hit you then!" The monkey laughed and chased after her.
The monkey threw several Peaches, all of them were very close to hitting, even at Aya's high speeds. Aya was impressed at his targeting skills, he did look like a warrior after all. This would be her second interaction with a Contract creature, so she really didn't have to ask what the reward was. Though, it could be something completely different than what she expected.
Aya aimed to go into the more mountainy area, after all being a cloud ninja, she would feel more comfortable there. She was not going at her full speed since that would eat up chakra, and she had a heavy backpack slowing her down a bit, but it was fast enough to evade the Monkey.
Aya looked back to see what the monkey where the monkey was exactly when she spotted him performing some earth hand seals. He can use ninjutsu?! SMACK That's when aya ran straight into an earth wall headfirst, stopping her in her tracks. Soon as she was stopped the Monkey unleashed a barrage of peaches at her, Aya rolled on the ground to avoid the mass and stood to dodge more. All the peaches being thrown hard enough to explode on impact and turn the earth wall into mud with the peach juices - Though it didn't take much since the ground was already moist from the snow.
"How do you have so many peaches?!" Aya Said as she maneuvered the best she could, this area becoming muddier the longer they stayed.
"It's a secret!" The monkey shouted. Though he soon revealed a summoning scroll, that was filled with bags of peaches. How long had be been gathering peaches? Were they just to throw at people?! It was also in the middle of winter so he had to have stored those peaches for a while. Maybe they are ripe in the Monkey realm? She knew the time, and seasons there were very different from the overworld.
As she stepped onto the ground she was trapped into a sinkhole, another ninjutsu. She struggled, and as she did, the monkey landed his second hit on her. He started laughing loudly, "One more hit and I win!!!" He shouted.
Aya gathered her chakra and performed a falcon punch into the ground to escape from the ninjutsu sinkhole. "And how much time is left?" She questioned as she moved back into the trees quickly.
The Monkey stopped Momentaraly to check the time, "Uh you have about One minute left-" He stopped when a peach smacked him in the head, "EY! I'm the one throwing!" He stated, and Aya laughed.
"We never said I couldn't throw some back!" Aya stated and then laughed.
The monkey grunted but then smirked. He only had a minute to win this game, but he believed this was way too much fun to let it end.
Aya began catching some of the peaches to throw back at the Monkey, which made it harder for him to catch her with jutsu, but it also made her slow down a little more, which led to some near hits on his end. It'd only been about five minutes, but Aya was working up a sweat even in this cold weather.
Soon the timer was done, and Aya was successful at dodging, or catching the peaches. The monkey was about to throw another one when he noticed the time was up. He looked at the small hourglass on his hip and smirked. "Good job on helping me out!" He stated as he clapped his hands.
"Huh?" Aya looked at him, "How did I help you?" She questioned.
"You helped me spread the peach seeds! In a fun way." The monkey stated then approached Aya who was on the ground. He stood a good foot taller than her, but it was easy to be taller than her.
Aya glanced around. "Oh, no problem." She stated though she wasn't sure the peaches he'd thrown would actually grow. It was more of a mess than anything really.
"Now that you successfully passed the test, allow me to give you the reward." The monkey stated, then reached out to her. "Oh by the way you can call me Daiki, I never got your name?"
Aya looked at his hand then reached for it. "Tsuyoshi Aya." She stated with a grin. When grasped his hand to shake it, they were teleported to another realm. It was different from the plant realm, not too different, but it had a different feeling to it.
"Your prize is... Me! Let me be your partner, and we'll make a great team!" Daiki stated and gestured to a - well what looked like a building of some sort. "Do you accept?"
Aya looked at the building. "I have a contract already,-"
"That's alright, we can work with that one too!" Daiki interrupted Aya.
"Oh well then, I don't see why not, I'd be glad to have you on my team." She stated with a grin.
The two walked to the building where Aya entered, and Daiki entered behind and stood by the door. A small monkey was sitting on a large chair. He looked cold and evil at first sight and he was wearing a green suit. To the side was a scroll.
"Welcome, I am Kobayashi, What brings you here, human?" The small Monkey spoke.
Aya gave a polite bow, was this the overlord? She wasn't sure, but it was best to be polite, Daiki was also bowing so it most likely was a higher ranking Monkey.
"Hello, Kobayashi, I am Tsuyoshi Aya, and I have come here to form a pact with Daiki," Aya stated.
"Do you now? What do you say Daiki?" Kobayashi asked as he reached for the giant scroll and set it in front of himself.
"I think she is skilled enough for me to compete with, and learn from," Daiki said with confidence.
Kobayashi waved Aya over and opened the scroll. "Then you should take good care of Daiki. Cause no trouble."
Aya nodded, then signed the scroll with her blood. "I promise."
Once Aya was done signing, Kobayashi closed the scroll, the waved his hands. "Alright now, get out."
Aya nodded and bowed one more time before leaving. "Thank you." She stated, then left with Daiki.
Daiki took Aya back to the overworld, and Aya instantly shivered in the sudden cold, she'd just got used to the nice warmth of the other world.
"Alright, now do you live around here?" Daiki asked.
Aya laughed and started walking back towards the lightning country. The walk back would be more fun with company, but she wouldn't blame him if he wanted to go back to his realm and wait it out to be summoned once she got home.
"What's so funny?" Daiki asked as he followed. He had nothing better to do other than follow his new friend.
"I live nowhere near here," Aya stated, then pointed to the distant mountains that could barely be seen. "I live past those mountains." Past the mountains was an understatement, Aya could reach home in a few days on her own, but with someone who didn't have seikon abilities, it'd take a while longer. That was alright with her since it was a chance to train endurance right?
Daiki gasped, "We're hiking all the way there?!" He thought she had to be kidding right? Did he want to follow her that badly?
"No, we're gonna fly," Aya stated as she picked up her pace. She was joking of course, but who knows, when she moves at full speed it felt like flying, without actually leaving the ground.
"Really? How can you fly?" Daiki asked curiously, and Aya gave him a smug look. "You weren't serious? Ha" Had she fooled him? Maybe a little, but jokes were fun to play along with sometimes.
"Come on let's go home," Aya said with a chuckle.
[wc = 2,125]
