[Event] The New Year's Beast from the Raging Sea

[Santaru Rin]

[spoilername="OOC"]This is the event topic for the Slow but Stead team. You have 5 days from the start of each round, which are indicated by the mod, to post; if 7 days go without any posts, the topic will be declared inactive and no reward will be granted. Please do not wait on post order.

Without spoiling your goals in the event, allow me to explain the simple system we will use to determine success and failure. Each round that you attempt an action to meet your goal, the event moderator will roll a 6-sided dice.

For scores between 1 - 2, the result is failure (the situation worsens).
Between 3 - 4, the result is neutral (the situation does not change).
Between 5 - 6, the result is success (the situation improves).

Every player can earn a bonus of +1 for well-written, clear, and entertaining posts. On top of that, everyone can earn an additional +2 each round that the entire team posts during the round, for a total of +3! The deck is stacked towards teams who can keep everyone active and posting in the topic.

[/spoilername]

The village was alight with the torches and bonfires and colored bulbs which signified the new year's festival. Unlike other places, Lightning Country's calendar followed the moon. The new year was signified by the second new moon after winter solstice. As if in defiance of the moonless night, the entire village had turned out to the festivities to carry decorative lanterns, shoot fireworks, and in general enjoy the merriment around the closing of the old year. The people had need of such fun, for the year had been a hard one. The harvests had been disrupted by civil war, prices were rising, and shortages of needed commodities were being reported. This festival had been designed to be among the best in living memory.

The Nimbus ryokan had spared no expense for its part. The hot springs and pools had been painstakingly prepared for an influx of guests, the gardens were perfect, and a full schedule of entertainments had been prepared and were even now playing out within the halls of the grand inn. The owning family had even hired extra staff from the village to ensure that no demands went unmet, and all employees were also invited to enjoy themselves as the moment permitted. This was a time for celebration, after all--even the workers and organizers needed to have some fun.

Long after darkness had fallen, the adults were all within the inn watching a show deemed too risque for a young audience. The children had been left to the grounds--the pools, the gardens, the forest--with a few Genin minders, a stack of sparklers and fireworks, a feast of their own, and a lavish set of toys to fool with. Thunderous fireworks were only sometimes penetrated by the joyful shrieks of kids chasing each other around, or 'accidentally' entering the wrong side of the springs, and other adventures.

In this precious moment of peace, then, the primordial terror struck. A piece of the darkness itself, it began swiping children, who disappeared to the sound terrified screams. The danger did not reveal itself. It stuck to the shadows, edging away from the torches in the yard. The inn, shrouded by darkness, provided the prospect of both safety and death: to reach it, one had to survive the unlit journey, but within, drunken adult presences could provide safety, right? Though nearly one and all within were but civilians, without even the slightest control of chakra...

For this round, the main objective is for all teammates to post and link-up IC!

If you are reading this post, are a student or Genin, and didn't sign up to join the event, you can PM me to negotiate a late entry.

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Many shinobi would not relish the thought of watching small children. They would think it was beneath them, work unsuited to the glory and grandeur that graduating the academy was supposed to bequeath upon them. But Tama, while still believing that she deserved all the praise and glory that Kumogakure could dish out, actually found the task quite enjoyable. After all, it was simply a miniature audience, or was that an audience-in-training? Tama didn’t feel that the concept needed to be fleshed out extensively, the important thing was that they were an audience and she was a performer. And so while the other faceless shinobi idled nearby, supposedly “watching” the little ones, Tama stood in the center of bunch of children, playing the part of a conjuror of cheap tricks. She used her talent with photon ninjutsu to create small explosions and dazzling displays of light, interspersed with some small acrobatic feats, it was enough to keep most of the smaller children entertained.

Although, there were those who had decided to scoff at the antics of the young kunoichi, children who believed they were much more mature than they actually were. Tama just ignored them; they would simply be missing out on her splendid performance, a once-in-a-lifetime show to be sure. The night had crept onwards deepening as it progressed. The laughter and applause that had greeted Tama’s impromptu show was now mixed with screams of terror. Tama looked around and noticed that some of her audience members had disappeared. This was an outrage. No primordial night terror was going to steal her audience. Her hands flashed through a few signs, and a brilliant dome of iridescent light formed over her audience. Jumping out of the barrier herself she looked around for the show-stealer, the presence of the giant dome of light significantly brightened the area around her and she also hoped that some of the other genin with her would find the sudden presence of a dome of light unnerving, and come to investigate. She had a feeling that this would probably need the assistance of a few co-stars.

[OOC: I have negotiated with Rin for my entry into this event. I would think of something witty to add here, but I probably used that as my bargaining chip.]

 

[Santaru Rin]

The illuminated dome swallowed the crowd around Tama. Startled shrikes arose from the children. She caught a glimpse of a paw large enough to easily crush a head; its claws were knife-like, and glittered ebon before fading back into the night, out of her safe circle of light. The little ones' screams quickly subsided into noisy sobs. They clustered around the kunoichi, pressing against this night-light girl as though she were a lone beacon of safety in primordial night. Her sharper senses could hear the occasional whisper of someone, or something, passing in the darkness.

Killing intent radiated from the night in waves. Something about that darkness was unnatural--the way it pressed back against Tama's light technique, which should have flooded the gardens and baths with its radiance. Instead, an umbral pall had fallen over the grounds. Instinct guided more young guests and minders toward the Genin, but a massive, dark blur burst through the edge of the light dome and in an instant, a straggler was knocked flat to the ground.

Okay! Your mission is to preserve as many people as you can. Each round, you have the potential to lose at least one of your group. Each loss drops you by one point. You have, currently, ten points.

Location & References
Tama is located in the botanical gardens. The hot springs are between her group and the inn. There are two stands of trees 'behind' her, and beyond them, the stone barrier-wall and gate to the path which leads back to the village. Alone, reaching the inn from here at Tama's top speed would take a couple of minutes, tops. Reaching the village at Tama's top speed would take fifteen minutes. It is approximately an hour until midnight, roughly six hours until dawn. There are periodic bursts of fireworks from the direction of the village.

Status
Tama has 10 children. One child has been knocked out near the boundary of her light dome. She is maintaining a photon technique. She is currently in good condition.

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Yabai, thought Tama. It was one thing to have to deal with an audience, but a completely different thing to have suddenly become the only hope and salvation for a large group of children who were desperately clinging to the light she provided in this unnaturally black night. Why had none of the other Genin shown up yet? Did this darkness somehow impede their progress; were they each managing their own horde of frightened young ones? Tama had no way of knowing; her light barrier didn’t reveal as much of her surroundings as she thought it should be doing. Trying to reach the inn with all the children encircled in her barrier was going to be difficult at best. She only had two eyes, after all.

Much as I like being the star of the show, I wouldn’t mind the presence of a good supporting cast right about now, she thought to herself. But since there was nothing she could do about the lack of personnel at the moment she would have to make do with her solo act for now. She remembered her parents mentioning that they would be doing a small show at the inn, so that was as good a place as any to look for reinforcements. While the majority of the Mochizuki Performance Troupe had little in terms of chakra manipulation, they could hold their own in a fight, long enough for better equipped help to arrive anyway.

The problem was getting to the inn. There was no doubt that Tama could be there within ten seconds if she dropped the barrier and dashed for it, but that was no way for a performer to treat her audience. Being on the younger side of all her siblings, she had been protected and sheltered by her elder brothers and sisters, and so felt naturally obligated to protect those younger than herself. Besides, now she practice those hero poses! But before any grandstanding could occur, she needed actually do something worth grandstanding over, so she first said to the kids, “Alright, now you will all be fine. We’re going to play a little game.”

“I’m scared,” one white-eyed boy sniveled.

“I don’t like the dark very much,” a blonde girl who clutched tightly to Tama’s glowing clothing said quietly.

“Hush now,” Tama responded to the children, she tried to emulate her mother, reflecting on when she and Tomo had been very little and had night terrors of their own. Their mother was an experienced shinobi, and could be a stickler for discipline, but always showed a tender, compassionate side to her young ones. If anyone who knew her saw Tama at this juncture, they would be amazed at the stark contrast in her behavior towards these young children and her behavior normally. “Everything will be alright.” She needed to first convince these kids that they were going to be safe with her; she also needed to convince herself that these kids would be safe with her. Kids could sense uncertainty, she knew because she sometimes sensed uncertainty from the adults around her. Tama was still a child technically, albeit a child with super-human powers and tactical combat training, but that was normal in Kumogakure for children to have that kind of expertise.

“Could you all tell me your names?”

“H-Haru,” said the white-eyed boy. “Mariko,” the blonde whispered. And one by one each child under Tama’s care quietly revealed their identities to the one person who was seemingly capable of saving them from this nightmare come true. Ken, a taller child with green eyes and brown hair, Ryou, quiet and short with spiky black hair and blue eyes, Sasami, a young girl with blue eyes and waist-length hair to match, Satoru, a boy with glasses and blue eyes, Miyako, the young girl that Satoru stuck extremely close to, she seemed to be a princess compared to the homely four-eyes, Makoto, a brunette with brown eyes who desperately tried to hide her fear from the others, Tomoe, a white-haired boy in a kimono, someone had given him white fox ears and a tail to wear with it, and Yuki, a girl with a neutral expression on her face and light purple hair.

“I’m Tama. I know that you’re all scared--”

“I’m not!” Makoto bluffed. This was soon followed by a chorus of “Me neither!” and “You liar!”

“Listen!” Tama said with an edge in her voice. The children all fell silent, “Whether or not you’re scared doesn’t matter right now. I need you all to be brave for me, like heroes. Can you all do that?”

“You mean like the Raikage and the sennins?” Mariko chimed in quietly from her post, clutching Tama tightly.

“Yes, like the Raikage and the sennins. Now the game. The rules are simple, stay inside the light until we reach the inn. For no reason, will any of you leave the light. If you do you lose.”

“What do we get if we win?” Ryou asked quietly.

“I’ll buy you all ice cream.”

“I’m lactose intolerant though.”

“Sherbet then.”

They proceeded to move in the direction of the inn, albeit very slowly, when a sharp cry rang out against the stillness of the night, immediately followed by the frightened sobbing and whimpering of the other children gathered around Tama, she whirled around to see what had happened. Ryou lay on the ground near the edge of her barrier. Tama tried to catch a glimpse of who, or what, the culprit was, but to no avail. All she could tell was that the whatever-it-was that had attacked the boy was averse to light, fast, powerful, and large.

Carefully easing Mariko’s hand off of her panda themed outfit, Tama cautiously approached the fallen child, keeping a lookout for any sudden movements towards the barrier. If this thing could sense chakra it would know that she was the source of the barrier and her exact location within it. So it was probably waiting for her to get close enough to strike. If so she needed to take some precautions. Before getting any closer to the fallen Ryou, Tama pulled out a slip of paper. Pressing it to her mouth and quickly uttering a few focusing words, chakra flowed through her hand and imbued itself into the paper. She handed the primed warp tag, which had faint glow to it, to Mariko, saying, “Hold onto this and if something happens I’ll be right with you.” To the rest of the children she said, “All of you stay close to Mariko, I’ll go check on Ryou.”

She started heading over to the boy again, this time quietly focusing her power and channeling her aura into her hands. They began to acquire a soft golden glow, faint at first, but growing in intensity and power. The chakra coursing through her body gave Tama the physical strength of people many times her size, so it wasn’t unfeasible that she would be able to simple pick the boy up and sling him over her shoulder with a single hand. Her free hand she kept at the ready to swing at whatever might come her way or complete the final sign to trigger the warp tag and return her to the other nine children in an instant if needed. She would prefer to walk, and save the warp tag for later use but Tama wouldn’t hesitate to use it if it became necessary to protect the children. This is MY audience, and no darkness is going to steal the show from me!

Spoiler

So I hope you don't mind that I named all the children and gave them all distinct personalities in my head. Kinda went overboard on it. >.> I actually went to the trouble of finding pictues of all the kids... I'm going to edit them and include them in future posts probably.... That means I just created ten characters....*sigh*

Anyways, Tama's actions are as follows:

1. Prime Warp Tag.
2. Give Warp Tag to Mariko (located in the center of the remaining nine kids)
3. Use Aura and Burst of Strength to light up her hands with awesome power of Mako chakra as well as augment her physical strength.
4. Haul the fallen kid (Ryou) back to the group.
5. If necessary will activate Warp Tag to teleport back to the group with Ryou.
6. After kid is secured and other threats are not actively attacking the group, slowly proceed towards the inn while encased in the light bubble.

I really hope those other two get to posting in here. Or this is going to get very difficult very soon. I'll send more PMs to see what's up.

 

[Santaru Rin]

Despite Tama's enhanced strength, Ryou was still a handful to drag back--he was almost as large as she was, which made for an awkward burden. She utilized the so-called fireman's carry she had learned at the Academy to distribute his weight more easily. The poor boy had been struck hard. The side of his head was red and rapidly darkening, and the skin at his scalp had split. The laceration bled freely.

Mariko gave a tiny shriek. Tama automatically sought out the part of herself she had invested in the tag, and in a second had reappeared in the midst of the group with the unconscious Ryou in her grip. The other children shrieked as well.

"Is he... D--is he okay?" She clutched at the hem of Tama's sleeve. Ryou was still breathing, but he was pale and had not yet awoken.

"He's dying!" Makoto squeaked.

What had Tama learned about first aid during the Academy? Standing around wasn't going to help anyone, though. She started leading the children back towards the inn, following the gravel path that wound between trees and pools and statuary and boulders... Plenty of cover for her, but also plenty of cover for an enemy. The fireworks from the village had paused. All was, for the moment, quiet besides the sniveling of frightened kids and the noise of their own passing.

A whisper of air hit the nape of her neck, carrying with it the heavy stench of rotten fruit and the tang of salt water.

I hope you don't mind another short post, but I figure brevity with the action is best--and certainly better than waiting a few more days for me to orchestrate a 2k word post!

Location & References
Tama is located in the botanical gardens. The hot springs are between her group and the inn. There are two stands of trees 'behind' her, and beyond them, the stone barrier-wall and gate to the path which leads back to the village. The fireworks have paused.

Status
Tama has 10 children. Ryou is unconscious and Tama must carry him. She is maintaining a photon technique, Aura, and Burst of Strength. She is currently in good condition, but her hands are occupied.

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

“Is he…d—is he okay?” Mariko asked fearfully.

“He’s dying!” Makoto squeaked.

“Ryou will be fine. Just calm down.” A panic would be the last thing Tama needed at this moment. First aid, first aid. What was first aid, again? Tama really regretted not being the most studious of her peers when it came to anything besides doing air flips or conjuring tornadoes. But still, bleeding was bad. The question was, what should she do about it.

Usually you put a bandage over cuts, right? She thought to herself. But Tama didn’t carry those on hand, though one might think she would when she gets herself scraped up a lot. Tomo was the one who always did the patching up, and Tama was the one that did all the getting hurt. She sighed, as she thought, Well I have no other option but to do this.

She first set Ryou down, then proceeded to remove her shirt, revealing her bare skin and bound chest. She was used to quick-changing in front of boys before for some performances with the troupe, so the fact that there were boys in her care currently didn’t bother her all that much. In fact, some of the boys that were closer to puberty became a mite flustered at the sight, considering that Tama was at most only two years older than they were, despite being a Genin. And Tomoe even had the gall to quietly comment on the size of Tama’s chest, “Pettanko.”

“And proud of it, Tomoe, boobs are baggage!” Tama exclaimed as she worked. She tore the outfit that her mother had lovingly made to look exactly like her brother’s into 10 long strips. It tore her heart to pieces to have to do this. Taking two of them she carefully wrapped them around Ryou’s head, making sure to cover the bleeding. Inadvertently, by doing this Tama was also applying some pressure to the wound.

However, she still needed to carry Ryou, and that would mean that her hands would once again be bound and unable to form handseals. To circumvent this, she focused her power into her legs, seeing as those would be her only form of defending herself while carrying Ryou. As her aura shifted from her hands to her feet, she picked the boy up, hopefully he would regain consciousness soon. She made a mental note to learn about ways of channeling jutsu without the use of handseals, or she could find herself in another situation similar to this one.

The botanical gardens were full of places to hide for both the kids and the enemy, and the hot springs would be no different. However, as Tama was maintaining a light technique, they were very easy to spot.

“Everyone,” the shirtless savior ordered, “pick up a rock. I want you all to throw them into the shadows of the trees as we near them. And once we hit the springs, start tossing rocks into the springs. We’ll sound like there’s more to us than meets the eye. If anything is hiding there we’ll either flush ‘em out, scare ‘em away or at least be able to avoid that direction.”

“If something does come out, what do we do?" Makoto asked warily, the tremors of fear apparent in her voice.

“Just keep throwing rocks at it. And I’ll finish it off, don’t worry I can handle a stray rock or two.” Or ten, I hope. “But if I go you all need to protect Ryou until he wakes up or I come back.”

“Don’t go!” whimpered Mariko as she latched her arms around Tama’s bare midriff.

“I’m not going anywhere yet. I’ll only leave if we flush out one of the monsters. Don’t worry, I’m a professional monster hunter. So I gotta do my job if we find one, ok? Especially now that there are monsters in the village.” Tama gave Mariko an encouraging smile, “So don’t worry ‘bout me, I’ll be fine. You need to look after the others. Take these,” Tama handed the rest of the strips of cloth that had once been her shirt to Mariko. “If anyone else gets hurt you can be the one to patch ‘em up.”

With that they began to make their way into the hot springs, Tama and her fellowship of rock-throwing kids.

Spoiler

Actions

1. Put Ryou down
2. Strip
3. Tear shirt
4. Bandage Ryou's head
5. Encourage kids!
6. Pick up Ryou
7. Forward March! With small army of rock-throwing minions. Throwing rocks into springs to sound bigger and more intimidating.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

*Plunk* went the sound of stones hitting water, and *thunk* went the sound of stones hitting trees or stone tiling on the ground. As the group slowly moved toward the direction of the inn, Tama grew confident now that they would all make it in one piece. Despite the miasmatic darkness that enshrouded the surroundings, she could now make out the lights of the inn where the rest of the troupe was, and where she would find much-needed backup.

“NYAAOO!!!” suddenly erupted from right in front of their location in response to a stone that one of the children had cast. As Tama’s instincts took hold and focused her attention to the direction of the noise, the fireworks show overhead now resumed anew, casting a brilliant white flash of illumination over the entire courtyard.

Right in front of the group was a creature, its features not clearly visible in the rapidly-fading light but enough to give a general idea of what they faced. At least a meter and a half high, and probably three meters long, it was massive compared to even an adult, and covered in reddish, feathery fur that undulated in rage. Its face and body were definitely feline in nature, although the massive bushel of whiskers around its maw could have easily served as a beard and mustache rather than a cat’s usual feelers. In response to the stone that had been thrown, it had been caught in the act of rubbing a growing lump on its forehead.

Tama’s presence was not lost on the creature either, as it snarled and let out a rather unfriendly hiss in her direction before bounding off into the darkness. Fortunately, none of the other kids seemed to have seen it in that brief half-second, except...

“Aiieee!!!” screamed Satoru, his face turning a shade of white that heralded fainting or worse, mindless flight. His legs grew jelly-like, and Miyako was suddenly his sole means of support.

“Satoru-kun, don’t die!” she pleaded with him, stroking his head. Mariko immediately came over, anticipation written on her face at the chance to administer first aid as her spunky genin one-san had directed her to do. As she wrapped a bandage around Satoru’s head, the boy’s cheeks grew pink yet again and he opened his eyes. Why the hell a bandage wrapped around his head would relieve him of injury, no one knew. (Maybe Tama’s robe had been soaked with the blood of Nemoto Senna or something.) Regardless, he now spoke up.

“I’m sorry, Miyako-chan. It’s just...I’ve seen that creature before. It’s an impure cat. The ethics committee sends them to get rid of kids who don’t conform to the boundaries set by our society. I know I’m being targeted. It’s all my fault – I should just go the other direction and let you all escape,” he said, breathlessly, but with a note of dangerous resolve in his voice. He now started to rise to his feet, turning backward with the air of a soldier sacrificing himself for the good of his platoon...

Bonus points if anyone gets the anime reference I'm making.

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Shifting the body of Ryou so that she had a hand free, Tama slapped Satoru across the face, "No! There is no ethics committee! And there will be no self-sacrificing acts by anyone without a Kumo forehead protector." She jabbed a thumb at the headband firmly affixed around the top of her head. Besides, if there was an ethics committee, I probably would have been a higher priority target. But the fact that it was a impure cat, made things a little clearer. "Can everyone here swim?" she asked the group, if no one said anything Tama was going to cut through the pools themselves, having everyone follow her through the water. If some of the kids couldn't swim yet, she was going to quickly scan the nearby area for those floating swim aids that kids sometimes used to help keep them afloat in water. People were playing in the springs until just recently so it wasn't too far out of the question that some would have been left behind in the chaos. Satoru, Miyako, Mariko, Sasami, and Tomoe all quietly indicated that they couldn't swim, causing those who could swim to subconsciously lord it over those who couldn't. Or so Tama thought, because she couldn't swim. And she was glad that she wasn't the only one who couldn't.

Finding a few kickboards and a swimming noodle next to the pool to the right of them, she bade those who could swim without aids to get into the water, and handed out the kickboards to those who couldn't. Satoru and Miyako shared a kickboard as neither could swim, and they had run out of kickboards for everybody. Ken swam well enough without one, Haru had been one of the first to grab a kickboard and now clung to it like his life depended on it, Makoto eagerly jumped into the water and splashed around happily, Sasami and Tomoe both had kickboards, and Yuki had silently slipped into the water without an aid. Mariko had latched onto the noodle in the water. Tama set Ryou onto the noodle saying to Mariko, "Keep him steady and make sure he doesn't fall off, hopefully the water will wake him up." Tama then got into the water, pushing the noodle like a kickboard and struggling to stay afloat herself. The small flotilla of children headed off travelling towards the inn via water. Hopefully, this cat behaved as normal cats would and avoided water like the plague, or Tama would just made her vulnerable little party, even more vulnerable.

When it came time to change pools, Tama would get out first to make sure the cat wasn't around and after finding that the coast was clear, would assist in the pool change. If the cat was there however, Tama would attempt to scare it off, only fighting it as a last resort.

OOC: Sorry for the delay, I was swamped with schoolwork.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

"OP" from the Shin Sekai Yori OST​

Meanwhile…​

Deep underneath the Aurora Eruditio, a secret meeting was taking place between a handful of senior shinobi and civilians of the village. All of them wore hooded cloaks that disguised their identity, for the task that they met to perform was a terrible one, no matter how wonderful the end result. The elimination of rogue elements of shinobi society was their grim responsibility, for without careful pruning of the young branches of the tree of Kumogakure, the village would fall back into dark days of chaos at any given instant.

“I again bring up the case of Mochizuki Tama. Numerous times she has proven herself to be a threat to the future stability of the village, not to mention our Raikage’s anal purity. Also, the bitch can’t swim.”

“Wait. Why are we discussing some little girl, when there’s bigger threats to our stability out there like the Hitokage or Kato Haruka or Joukuu’s virginity or…that guy whose name sounds like ‘Donuts’?”

“Oh fuck it, fine. I just don’t like that girl, that’s all.”

“You’re a hater, aren’t you?”

And back to the action…​

The small flotilla of kicking, thrashing, and sometimes swimming academy students and their genin leader (who couldn’t swim – how the hell had she survived underwater combat class? Oh wait, that was an elective…) slowly made its noisy way across the pond, bypassing vulnerable ground. Tama could still spy the feline shadows of the Nian on land, and it seemed to be deliberately taking its time stalking them, even though Tama’s original hunch had been right: that the cat would ingest hot coals rather than take a bath. The creature slunk along the water’s edge with interest, baring its fangs in a garish half-grin at the leader of the group.

The smart thing for the genin to do would be to head for the north end of the water, where there was only a ten-meter strip of darkened distance to cover before the welcome illumination of the innhouse where the adults partied and drank. Still, that was enough of a space for the Nian to make short work of a good portion of her charges. And if it escaped into the darkness, there would be no way to catch it. The cat itself seemed to realize this, and started to slink its way over to the north end, as if telling Tama: “Haha! Serves you right!”

A slit of light appeared on the wall of the inn and widened, showing a man’s silhouette. It was hard to see while trying to swim with a floatie, but perhaps it was an adult stepping out to take a smoke break. A thin bead of orange glow confirmed this. Perhaps Tama could alert this one somehow?

“Onee-san, we’re not going to make it, are we?” tearfully asked Haru, almost crushing his pool noodle in fear.

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

Tama saw the light of a cigarette in the far-off safety of the inn. Someone was coming to help them! But the light stayed where it was. Obviously, this person was not the most attentive adult at the inn. But it was a celebratory time, and people didn’t usually expect danger to spring upon them at a festival. While Tama’s group floated slowly to the north end of the pool, no doubt where that stupid cat was waiting to jump on them as they crossed that small section of pavement; the pool idea had turned out to be both a blessing and a curse, the cat couldn’t reach them whilst they were in the water, but now they couldn’t leave the water without being attacked by an enemy with the advantage of cover.

“Onee-san, we’re not going to make it, are we?” Haru asked with tears falling from his distraught face.

“What are you talking about? Of course we’ll make it!” Tama responded, her voice full of bravado. There is absolutely no way I am letting that stupid grinning cat beat me!

First, she needed allies. That person at the inn was a start, but how to pull him over here. Pull him over! That’s it! Tama thought to herself. Wrapping an arm around the noodle she began to make handseals in the water. Trying to focus and float and the same time was actually pretty difficult. Wind began to flow towards Tama from all directions, especially from the direction of the inn. The person smoking would feel tendrils of wind tugging him or her forward towards the pools. Hopefully, this would draw the person’s attention. If not, then this would serve as the preparation for her final act. Her chakra reserves weren’t unlimited after all, and she had been maintaining the dome of light for quite awhile now.

If the person outside of the inn, ignored the call of the wind, Tama would start to rotate the winds around her and the kids, she would use the last of chakra to create a powerful maelstrom of winds that would shield the whole party from that pesky cat. She would go all out with this technique, even if she started tapping into her own life force to fuel the raging winds. It wasn’t self-sacrifice that would make her do this. After all, there was nothing more important to Tama than Tama, and Tomo. It was a deep desire to not lose, to be better than anyone or anything. This way Tama wasn’t violating her word to her charges, there would be no self-sacrificing acts here today.

WC: 436

 

[Takaki Saeko]

Hungrily, the Nian licked its thin little cat lips in anticipation, making sure that the barbed, gummy-worm-consistency tongue scraped off any residual child crumbs that it might have enjoyed earlier. Settling onto its haunches, it brought a rear leg up and began to scratch at its ears. It was smart enough to know that there was no escape for the children – they would eventually have to come to shore, or simply drown where they were after tiring from exhaustion. It waited, calmly, cloaked by shadow save for its fanged rictus.

Meanwhile, the thirty-something chuunin who had stepped out for a smoke break grimaced in annoyance as the wind whipped around him, almost putting out the cigarette he was trying to enjoy. Sure, he could very well smoke inside with the others, but he was also feeling a bit tipsy and desired some fresh air. Splashing sounds echoed from the nearby pond, but that was probably just a bunch of kids playing pranks or tossing things into the water. An irresistible urging on the wind forced him to turn his head and gaze out at the pool. At this point of the night it was too dark to see clearly, and he scanned over the horizon with some disinterest.

To Tama’s horror, she realized that the chuunin whose attention she had tried to attract was gazing right at the cat – or actually, right through the blasted thing! But it was less than ten meters away! How could the dumbass not realize that there was a predatory S-class danger beast almost right next to him?! Was it a trick of the shadows? Some concealment skill that the feline possessed? Or was it that for some reason, the adults could not see such things? Was that why it was targeting her little group?

She was left with no alternative now. She could not wait any longer, and the children were starting to tire. Her chakra reserves were almost depleted, and now for her to utilize her wind bubble shield, it would certainly drain her life energy, already compromised due to the wounds she had received from that missing Hayata. But that was what a star actress did – sacrifice herself for the show. As she burst out of the water and landed on the grassy surface, the Nian launched itself right at her, its mouth dilating to an impossible width as it enveloped her entire form in an instant!

“Hey! Quit screwing around in the water!” barked the chuunin at the girl, only to rub his head in confusion when in his eyes she suddenly disappeared into thin air. He shook his head and was about to turn around, when all of a sudden he was knocked back with hammer force to the ground. Where there had been nothing, was now the horrific, gigantic spherical shape of something that might have been a feline of some sort, as if a cat had ingested an entire helium balloon without popping it. Before the chuunin’s jaw could drop, the cat-balloon popped.

The thunderclap of noise and force broke windows on the nearby inn and snuffed out torches, and laid the poor chuunin on his back. Everything was coated with a layer of thin red, sticky slime, and the edge of the pond had been turned into a gooey crater. In the middle of the crater, stood a half-naked, pale, pettanko, and extremely pissed-off looking genin.

“What in Jesus Saito’s name is going on?!” yelled the chuunin, sitting up and wiping a layer of sweet-tasting red slime off his face. Adding to his confusion, a group of Academy Sensei flanked with ANBU and mednin now rushed up from behind, aiming their weapons in all directions. The leader of the Sensei group raised a hand, however, and the bolters were lowered. Dabbing a finger into a nearby clump of slime, he lifted his veil slightly and tasted the substance before walking toward Tama.

“Genin. Was it you who destroyed this creature?” he started to ask, when all of a sudden, one of the ANBU raised his machine-bolter in the direction of the pool in response to the splashing arrival of a group of small children, some whom swam, some who clung desperately to foam boards and floaties.

“Sir, we have hostiles! Ten children armed with pool noodles!! I’m gonna light ‘em up!!” bellowed the operator, flicking the weapon’s safety to “fun” mode. The Sensei groaned in response.

“No, you idiot. We’re not the godrotting LAPD. They’re children. Lower your weapon, now!” said the sensei, before turning his attention to Tama again. “Well? Give me your report, girl.”

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

“Haaah…..haaaah….take that….you stupid, fat, feline,” Tama panted as the creature swelled and exploded around her. She fell to the ground, drained, and struggled to rise. She heard some guy yelling in front of her. She wasn’t really paying attention to him too much though, she was tired and just wanted to get the kids inside the inn.

“Genin. Was it you who destroyed this creature?” The voice of another self-possessed person reached Tama’s weary ears. She stared blankly at him and replied, “No, a wizard did it.” Her reply carried more than a hint of biting sarcasm. But when the one foolish operator made the comment about shooting kids with pool noodles, Tama sacrificed more health to dash over to him, and wind him with a quick punch to the gut, and a fierce stomp on the dropped weapon, irreparably damaging the thing.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she began berating the buffoon who had threatened her charges, “I have spent that last half an hour defending all ten of these kids from the creepy kitty from Dr. Seuss’ nightmares by myself, and you were about to ruin all my hard work!” Continuing in a similar method of describing what happened by haranguing the unfortunate trigger-happy officer, Tama was able to relate her report the leader of the adults.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

The masked sensei regarded Tama in bemusement as the girl laid the smackdown on the trigger-happy operator who thought that shooting a bunch of kids was a great idea. Then again, he couldn't really be blamed for his actions - he was merely emulating the conduct of many police, military forces, and overzealous operator-wannabe neighborhood-watch-men around the world when faced with tiny children toting things like pool noodles, candy, or cans of iced tea.

"Very well, genin," said the sensei, surveying the scene. The mednin were already busy taking samples of the exploded cat remains and the adults celebrating in the inn had pitched in the help carry the children into the warmth and tend to their discomfort. "My name is Kaburagi Shisei. I am one of the assistant headmasters of the Academy and member of the Kumogakure Ethics Committee. The creature you dealt with here is called a 'Nian' and it preys on children. It is incredibly dangerous because those above a certain age are incapable of seeing it while it remains alive. Another specimen was just killed at the Academy after trying to attack a group of students. Usually these come in pairs, so I do not believe that the village is at risk anymore.

"It takes a concerted team effort to kill one, but it seems like you managed to dispose of it while simultaneously protecting ten vulnerable children. It's that kind of leadership skill that our village needs. The ability to make sound decisions under threat and with limited resources. I will recommend to the Council that you be promoted to chuunin rank and given the right to command your own cell. In the meantime, if you are injured, you are free to go to the hospital or back to your home."

[Alright! Good job, now just leave the topic and post in Cloud request for the banner! Make sure you have your OOC prerequisites as well.]

 

[Suzuki Setsu]

After Tama had thoroughly shamed the officer, the man in charge approached her and informed her of the circumstances surrounding the cat-creature, called a Nian, and was impressed that she had managed to defend a group of ten kids while defeating the beast. Tama's chest swelled with pride, it was completely natural that people should be impressed at her feats.

The man, whose name was Kaburagi Shisei (Tama was too tired to create a nickname for him on the spot), said that she should get some rest and that he would put her name in for consideration to be promoted to chuunin rank. As much as she didn't like taking orders, Tama knew that getting some rest was a good idea. So she hugged the kids goddbye, pried Mariko off her leg, and headed in the direction of the troupe's makeshift compound.

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