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Post by Danna on Sept 26, 2009 15:33:03 GMT -5
After breakfast, some last minute preparations, and a few goodbyes, Abe and Kara found themselves back on the road to Suna, having spent several months in training. Rumors of small conflicts breaking out, signaling the start of the war, had begun to drift into the tiny village, suggesting that it wouldn't be long before the conflict would begin its inevitable escalation. Hence, they had decided that it was time to head back to the village, to learn more detailed information, and figure out their own positions in the upcoming events.
A respectable distance from the village, Abe began to feel a bit of anxiety in his gut. He kept himself on guard, but hoped that it could be chalked up just to paranoia and concern for the situation. He tried to keep this worry under wraps, still smiling cooly in the sunlight as they walked.
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 15:48:55 GMT -5
"About six hundred meters out now. Give it another two minutes." Takeshi muttered to his partner, staying knelt by Nim, who sat there patiently. He pulled his hood up over his head, glancing up through his mask. "Remember, don't kill the girl. Hokage-sama wants her alive. The missing nin boy is expendable though..."
If Takeshi hated something, it was traitors; something so dishonorable couldn't be forgiven.
"One more minute..."
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 15:53:44 GMT -5
"Gahhhhh. You should carry me." Karasu groaned, shielding her eyes from the intense sun that made the desert sand glow fiercely. After so long away, it'd take her a day or two to get back used to this heat and brightness. She swayed some, pulling the shoulder of her bright gold jacket back up as she glanced at Abe. After spending so much time working with him, she could read him easily enough; he seemed tenser now. She could feel something in the air as well, for a couple minutes now.
It was like they were being watched.
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Post by Danna on Sept 26, 2009 16:26:27 GMT -5
Ware nodded shortly, arms crossed in forced patience as he waited for the targets to come within range. He glared off at them in the distance through his mask, his all seeing eyes carefully pinpointing their every movement. "Tch, right, right." He muttered. He wasn't nearly as justice-minded as his partner, more concerned with simply getting his job done than any right or wrong to it. Frankly, it was a simple matter of eliminating competition, after all.
Abe shifted again, feeling another odd pang of paranoia. He glanced around, obviously not seeing or feeling anything definable. But then again, it wasn't like he was a tracker or anything. =P
"Kara-san...be on guard..." He said quietly, unable to fight off the anxious feeling in his mind. They'd be better off taking it slow and steady back to Suna than getting ahead of themselves and falling into trouble; even if he was just imagining things.
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 17:00:51 GMT -5
"Ah, you feel that too...?" She kept her eyes ahead, still smiling faintly. "If there is someone tailing us, don't you think they'd have attacked or approached us by now...?" She asked quietly, cocking her head some as though it was a rather curious thought. "But they're just watching..."
She closed her eyes, thinking on it and trying to sense what may be there.
"They can probably hear what we're saying too."
Indeed, Takeshi's sense picked all that up easily, and he was sure Ware could read their lips if he wanted with those eyes of his, but their speculations all came too late.
"There." Just as he murmured it, he watched their target's male counterpart step on the spot his trap was concealed. Faster than one could blink, a device that looked almost like a bear trap with fangs that glowed with a bluish light snapped, its jaws erupting from under the sand and into the boy's left leg with a sick squish that released the scent of blood into the air. Takeshi pulled on the chain that ran several hundred feet under the ground, yanking the boy's leg down under the sand. "Now."
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Post by Danna on Sept 26, 2009 17:42:23 GMT -5
Abe was stunned, but thankfully his paranoia had led him to be prepared. Ware had seen it coming to a degree as well, but in all there was nothing that could be done to enhance the effectiveness of the trap; so they'd have to take what they could get with it.
"I'll move in and push them on; make sure the next traps are ready." Ware said with a short sniff suggesting that he didn't expect this to be a difficult capture. Swiftly he vanished, moving in closer behind them, purposely intending to lure them into reversing their facing.
Abe grunted, slamming his good leg into the ground and using the leverage to yank his captured leg out, the injuries to it substantially lessened by the concentration of chakra he had began pooling just a short distance back. With his leg in the air, he grabbed a hold of what seemed to be a bear trap, yanking it open and apart faster than one could pop the top of a can. There was some blood, but nothing that would lessen his ability for now.
"Tch, they found us alright." He could only faintly follow it, but he could pick up movement, circling behind them. "Damn..."
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 18:25:48 GMT -5
"We need to get to the village. At least there we'll have back-up." Kara stated quickly, pulling her hands up into her sleeves as she looked around. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening here, just that Abe was bleeding and she could just vaguely feel someone closing in on them. She'd been right though; their captor had been waiting for them to fall into the trap. Now she could only assume that there were more around here, waiting for them...
"Nim." Takeshi patted the large dog's back, sending her sprinting off down the hill to pick up the boy's scent from the drops of blood left behind in that sand. He watched the pair already taking off in the direction of the village, slowly standing to his full height; he wasn't worried about losing them, not when that boy had already been punctured by one of his special traps. The chakra residue from being wounded by that would prevent the wound from closing for at least an hour, so once Nim attained the scent, there was no place that boy could hide. After a moment, he vanished, heading on at his own undetectable speed to make sure he was in position to snag them again.
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Post by Danna on Sept 26, 2009 19:15:35 GMT -5
Abe grunted in irritation, still focusing his chakra carefully for defense, and also to attempting to help with the small wounds he had taken. He could tell right away that even with his abilities, something about the trap had been unique and that he wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding very well.
"They're tracking us by blood scent, seems like that was their plan." He noted, being very cautious as they moved in the direction of the village. There was still a considerable distance before they would fully enter Suna's area of engagement, and considering the enemy's preparation, he was starting to doubt that they'd make it without further conflict. He knew they'd have to mix it up if they were going to make it...
"Kara, veer off and arc around, we'll meet up later. The tracker is already onto me, so tagging along is only putting us both in danger, especially sine he probably set the trap. The one behind us is pushing us forward, so they probably have something else; if you fall into it, they'll be able to track you easily too. Signal me if you get in trouble."
He gave her a thumbs up and his trademark grin, obviously confident that she could handle things without him. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite as certain for himself, having already fallen for a trap and becoming traceable.
"Besides that, they're probably out to kill me and capture her...Tch."
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 19:26:27 GMT -5
She opened her mouth to argue, but closed it quickly and nodded. She'd known this was how it would end up the moment he'd said the tracker had him, and this was the only course of action that offered any chance of safe passage. Offering her own grin tinged with that shadow of worry, she formed one of her own handseals.
"Alright then. Race you there. And I won't forgive you if you get hurt anymore." She shot him a stern look, then vanished in a blur of color and sand, having entered her flash dance and veered off to the right.
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Post by Danna on Sept 26, 2009 19:31:41 GMT -5
Abe grinned, nodding. He stopped suddenly, skidding as he whipped his leg around, kicking a wave of rock that he struck with a flurry of punches, aimed behind him, around, and off towards his front, aiming to slow down and distract the pursuers for a moment while Kara gained some ground. He stopped as he was done, standing in his Genbu stance, turned a bit to try and cover both sides for a moment.
Ware rolled in the air, twisting and wiping out the debris with his rotation. He stopped, grumbling a bit as he gauged the targets plans. It became obvious quickly, and sadly for them, it wasn't terribly difficult for him to catch sight of the girl again.
She's got a bit more distance now; Takeshi will have to handle the guy, I guess.
Veering off and around Abe, he trailed after her, leaving his partner to handle the Missing Nin.
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 19:41:01 GMT -5
Takeshi watched from a good distance, knelt in the sand as he read his own partner's movements. The girl had gotten further ahead, so Ware was going after her; he'd deal with the boy then. He watched Ware evade the attack easily and then take off again, waiting until the boy turned to attack in some vain effort to stop him before forming his own handseal.
"Tsubame."
He watched the earth underneath his prey open up into a vast pit, swallowing him up before closing again. He then whistled what seemed to be an inaudible tune, watching Nim change directions from where she'd been headed back to him, instead turning to watch the spot the missing nin had disappeared from. With another seal, he himself sank down into the ground without a trace. A tracker shouldn't be seen by the prey, after all.
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Post by Danna on Sept 26, 2009 20:01:54 GMT -5
What sunk into the sand wasn't Abe however, but in a poof revealed itself as a large chunk of rock, one he had perhaps carefully staged during his earlier attack, smeared with his blood. From beneath the sand, where he too had hidden himself, a lengthy leather scroll flung into the air, arcing high, dripping visibly in several places with a liquid that couldn't be placed, but could certainly be smelled. Blood.
The scroll hit the ground, extended a solid distance and carefully trailed with Abe's blood from where he had purposely opened a wound. The air around the radius of the scroll was filled with the scent, throwing off any distinct location of him as he carefully wrapped his wounds tightly from his location nestled between some rocks below the ground. Once he was good, or as good as he could get, considering that his leg still trickled from time to time, he took a deep breath, starting to ponder out his next move. So long as he stayed within a certain range of the scroll, the blood scent should mix in and cover him (he'd have to be careful not to linger and let it get more pungent though); now, it was just a matter of luring the tracker out...
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 20:29:13 GMT -5
Takeshi emerged several hundred yards away from where he'd originally been stationed, shaking off the sand and scratching idly behind his ear. While he couldn't see his prey like his partner would have been able to, he could smell an increased amount of blood. That was no good. He put his fingers to his lips again, whistling another tune at that inaudible pitch.
The large dog that sat not far from where Abe was hidden perked its ears, listening to something intently before turning and galloping over to the rock spire debris and climbing atop it, sitting back down like a good doggy. She then tilted her head back and howled.
There was silence and stillness again for a long moment.
SHA-BAM
Bluish chakra ripped down out of the sky from the arc it'd made, tearing down around the dog and sinking into the rock around her. Underground, there was a rumble near the rocks Abe was concealed near. It was still again until the blue energy passed through the sand, forming what looked to be a wolfish snout; it sniffed toward him a moment before the wolf's head passed through all the way, opening it'd jaws and snapping down on the boy's shoulder.
SHA-BAM
There was a sound that reverberated from the ground, the vibration even reaching Takeshi. The explosion hadn't dealt any physical damage to the area around it though, but left a heavy feeling of emptiness as though all the energy had been sapped from the air... A chakra tracing bomb; once it found and detonated on it's target, it sucked all that chakra out of the area around it, including large amounts, if not all, of the victim's chakra.
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Post by Danna on Sept 26, 2009 20:41:26 GMT -5
Abe had carefully braced himself, attacking the creature's head the moment it had appeared and pushing himself away. The detonation had shaken him a bit, and it took another moment or so for him to build up his chakra. Definitely not good; he had suspected that the tracker would have other methods, but that had been a bit faster and more troublesome than he had expected.
"Tch. Damn..." He bit his lip, chewing in thought for a moment, still carefully pushing himself through the sand below, trying to maintain at least some movement constantly to keep from being settled upon so easily. He'd have to try and tracker out for certain, and/or the smaller source of tracker that went with him. A dog or something? Abe instantly thought of the Inuzuka, grumbling at his luck.
Pulling his knife from his pouch, he carefully began focusing everything he had into it, intending to give his an all out attempt, considering that taking too much time would only decrease his standing in the long run. Once he had focused enough chakra, a massive amount comparable to his top technique (which would basically be like holding a sign up above his location, but oh well), he struck the ground above him with the knife, expelling a wave of chakra, then releasing and striking again in quick succession, sending a coupled shock wave that made the earth rumble for quite a distance. The ground shook terribly, sand shifting, caving in, erupting.
Taking the opening he had created from the attack to escape the sand, he leapt into the air, not wanting to get dragged back down by the after affect of his own technique. The sheer distortion of the surrounding area, which was weak from being comprised of such grainy material, would drive any living thing possible out into the open.
"Using up a lot of chakra, but, this'll have to do...If I can get him out in the open, then I can try that..."
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Post by Jackstraw on Sept 26, 2009 21:49:52 GMT -5
Indeed, it did invoke a reaction. Escaping the caving in ground, the large dog launched itself into the air, attacking the prey who's scent couldn't be pinpointed until just then; it dug its large claws into his back, sinking its teeth into the crook of his neck. Before he could even react, something like a large inverted cyclone of air and dust shot out of the ground and right into his falling and bleeding body; there was another spray of blood as razor-sharp, blue tinged claws dug into the boy's midsection, forming blossoms of blood from more wounds that wouldn't close up for awhile.
They shot back up through the air, the momentum driving Takeshi deeper into the boy's abdomen and pressing Nim harder against his back until their arc came to its pinnacle and they started their decent back to the earth a few hundred feet below.
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