Shinobi Legends Forum
Roleplay => Village Square => Topic started by: Eric on December 28, 2015, 04:31:09 AM
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Some forests are renown for their wildlife. Others are renown for their dead.
This one was known for its deer. At the very edges of Fire Country, a large cavern housed a large, twenty foot long (from nose to tip) crimson scaled dragon with a wingspan of about 22 feet. His arms folded and his wings tightly brought close to him, Pyro Hito watched over home base. While one hunted the other watched over the nest, and as much as Pyro hated the forest, he hated guard duty even more.
He huffed a small spout of fire before glancing backwards towards the belly of the cavern. He would gaze forward again, grumbling to himself about the impossibility for a dragon even close to his size to have any good hunting in this forest; Rita clearly had had that intentioned and in mind when she chose this place.
Indeed, Rita had had her reasons, but not for the obvious. Her scale pattern again blending into the forest environment, and her serpentine neck slowly craned towards a river. Oblivious, for now, to the impending danger was a lone though frightened buck. Rita had used shadow imitation to scare off his herd and isolate this particular individual, as venison was a guilty pleasure of hers that never failed to deliver. It reminded her of home, of better times.
The buck, perhaps having accepted its fate and merely waiting for it to be over, stayed frozen in spot next to the riverbank, the pristine waters reflecting the predator looming just overhead. In a flash, the wind dragon moved, snapping at air as the buck narrowly avoided her sizable jaws, large enough to crush his entire body in a single bite. A rear kick to the nose added more insult to the misaimed strike, but like a serpent locked onto its prey, Rita pursued.
Her primary body moved in a calculated fashion as to avoid crashing about through the forest, itself a momentous task considering her size rivaled that of her dragon companion back at the cave. Her neck and head moved with a similar grace, but with noteably greater speed, snapping at the four legged creature with audible ferocity. After a few seconds of successful dodges, the buck's luck gave out; one hoof in the river and another between Rita's teeth, and his last cry sounded as he was lifted into the air and snapped up between mighty jaws.
Chewing, Rita quickly titled her morsel to its second to final destination as a deer. Her eyes steeled towards the general direction of a small commotion.
The rest of the heard had heard her, and was on the move. If she was going to bring back enough venison for herself and for Pyro, she would need to be more efficient. Like a chameleon she blended into her environment, only the sound of flapping and the billowing of trees any indication that she remained in existence.
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The Nara had been wandering around the lush forest once again, this time he entered a part of the forest he'd only been to once, with his late grandfather. While he seemed to be in some sort of weird trance, he couldn't help but feel at home in the forest of deer. He remembered the stories the old man had told him about this place mere months ago when they saw each other for the final time.
While he was sure he was referring to the forest of deer nearest to Konoha where the Nara clan cares for the antlered creatures. He still felt at ease being surrounded by nature, unobstructed by man made buildings.
There was also one more thing he heard about this area. It was but a rumor, but he trusted the judgment of his Manji Agents. He sent a few units out with the sole purpose of locating either a dragon summoner or a dragon itself. So far, since their creation, or rather recreation, some odd months prior they had no particular fruit to harvest. Not even a full day had passed before they directed him towards this particular section of the forest. Evidence of large grooves along a few trees, large pools of dried blood and clawed footprints covered certain parts of the forest. Being a shifter of animals, Jay knew not of any land animals that could cause such damage in the forest.
So here he was, keeping a steady pace, just as the dragon Rita was camouflaging with the surrounding forest, he had to make sure his scent was blending in perfectly with said forest. If it was indeed a dragon, he didn't want to encounter one capable of such damage. He dreaded to think of joining the deer in its position on the food chain.
Having an idea, he jumped in the air and landed on a branch. He made sure he was in the shadow of the tree, sitting with his legs crossed, and blurred through a set of seals. The shadow of the tree wrapped around the outline of his body and caused him to become transparent(1), no light reflecting from his body. He remained both silent and still as he became one with nature. The naked eye would be hard pressed to find the man as he was camouflaged nearly perfectly. The senses would have similar difficulty as the nature energy gathering around him, masked his own. If he was to move, the chakra would become his own.
The taking culmination of nature energy would heighten his senses and spread them out in the forest. He didn't need seals for this technique(2), just concentration and time. If there was a dragon in this forest, he would like to know where, first and foremost. All living things had blood, even the trees though he didn't think sap counted. In any case, nothing was capable of fooling this scan, for as long as their heart badumped in their chest.
1- Kageton: Kagegakure no Jutsu (Shadow Release: Hiding in the Shadows Technique)
2- Chiton: Ryūketsu no Chōsa (Blood Release: Bloody Survey)
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The herd continued its flight down the river, seemingly running a pre-determined location. Rita was not a fan of playing with her food, but as tempted as she was to use genjutus on them, something did not feel right. It was only for a moment, but it was if something had disturbed her chakra sensory for a few moments.
It was a forest, so for now she would think nothing of it. She slinked about towards the deer only to pick up on a particular chakra spike. They were gathering around it... So that's why they were following the river in such a linear fashion. Rita maintained her camoflague when the source of the chakra spike became clear.
A very large buck, one that dwarfed all the others, with antlers the size of trees and a body rivaling Rita's own in size, staring upstream towards what it believed to be the source of the herd's scattering. Its eyes scanned the deer as if counting heads, and finding that several were missing, it snorted. Green rings around its eyes and the sudden locking of eyesight directly onto Rita gave her all the indication that she needed that she was no longer as well hidden as she thought she had been.
Re-appearing, her disguise no longer effective, Rita smirked, flaring her wings wide in challenge.
"These are yours hm? I have a friend to feed and a nest to return to. I will not be returning empty."
"You greedy lizard, must you take the whole herd? I am Cervis, and I shall bring an end to you!"
Rita was taken aback when the deer actually spoke back. His words, predictable, but the fact that he spoke back completely surprised her. Yes, some animals could talk, but she didn't actually expect-
Her thoughts would be interrupted by the Buck rearing up and slamming its hooves to the ground. At once, the forest seemed to come alive, quite literally, with wood surging out in an attempt to bind and restrain Rita.
Wood release. No time to curse, Rita gathered wind chakra around herself, at the same time leaping into the air. The effect would be her launching herself into the air, with an aura of blue around her form.
Jūha Reppū Shō no Yoroi; Beast Tearing Gale Palm Armor
The wind armor would form in the general shape of her body, granting her extended reach, increased defense, and greater aerodynamics. A filter to airborne toxins and a base for quicker execution of wind style jutsu as well, the wind dragon roared as she flew higher and higher. The wood was not shattered with her roar, though the deer herd certainly scattered about their immediate area (save for the leader). The wood, however, did not shatter, nor even buckle for that matter.
Sage mode. Rita began to legitimately get somewhat nervous at this point, focusing her razor sharp vision on one objective. She needed to seriously kill this, Cervis, before he started hitting her with something a little more difficult to dodge. Flying higher and using her chakra sensory to lock onto her quarry and his continued attempts at trapping her with wood, she would take a quick breath, and then shoot a volley of wind bullets at her quarry down below, with the intent on ripping through his flesh like fire lead bullets through cloth.
Fūton: Shinkūgyoku; Wind Release: Vaccum Sphere
No doubt Jay would hear the commotion from the moment the wood surged and Rita roared. Though roughly a mile away from the beginning of the battle, he would likely sense the origin of the struggle. Not quite as far, more like half a mile away in the complete opposite direction, he would sense another presence stirring at the sound of combat.
That roar sounded distinctly like Rita. Pyro fidgeted and temporarily retreated back into the cavern, standing atop of the small, sheltered nest with some anxiety. Rita had instructed him to stay here unless she explicitly called for him, which he had to assume she was capable of doing, and the last time he had deviated she had taken a few scales off of him.
Still, if she was in danger, he would rather risk her wrath than the fury of her human companion, or worse, her father. Pyro shuttered at the idea of what her father would do to him; getting his blessing had been easy, but that was only because getting together with Rita had been his job. Protecting her had been another, and to fail at the more important one, Pyro would need to find a desert temple very deep in the sand to escape Drago.
But... Rita was a powerful dragon. She had various skills at her disposal, she was no pushover. Unless she were dealing with an actual shinobi, she could probably handle it. Wandering back to the mouth of the cave with his wings half-extended, Pyro could see the faint sign of Rita's wind armor in the distance. Wood attempted to reach up and grab at her, and though it seemed as if the attacker was reaching in vain, Pyro still half shot into the air.
Ultimately, he decided to wait, for now. He paced about the mouth of the cavern, half an eye to the inner and half to the Outer.
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Jay had to admit that his senses had been rocked upon hearing the roar from a mile away, his blood scan had only confirmed the rumors. There was a dragon around these parts. Or dragons, he should correct himself, as he also managed to reach the male dragon Pyro inside the cavern. Though this peaked his interest, so did the monstrous deer in the direction of the roar. His senses paid little mind to the chakra being thrown around in that general direction as the fact that a deer could become that took priority in his curiosity. A soft chuckle would slip passed his lips as he thought of an old fashion saying, 'Curiosity killed the cat' which resulted in a sort of decision mode that had two separate progressions into the crafty story that was his life.
In one direction was the lone dragon, awake, from what it's blood told him, and not helping it's companion for unknown reasons. While this direction seemed plausible and the way he saw it, it could only mean that the mythical creature was guarding a new generation. If he went this way, the dragon guarding the egg would no doubt try to eat him and if it garnered the attention of the other dragon, he'd be hard pressed to stay alive againstthem both. But if he was successful and managed to get the egg, he would forever be hunted by the other dragon for taking the egg and injuring/killing the Guardian.
The Nara stood to his feet and turned his crimson hues, the ever present Choku Tomoe Sharingan gleaming in excitement, towards the direction of the fight. Because he stood, the technique canceled and the gathered Nature Energy converged on him and strengthened his Nature Armor.
In that direction was a dragon fighting a deer, which he would have to give the win to the predator, but he was sensing Senjutsu chakra being used as well, which meant the deer was a wildcard that could turn the tide with one wrong move on the dragon's part. There was the possibility that, his involvement in the fight had a 50/50 split as well. The dragon could very well appreciate his help and offer an egg to him as thanks, or take a blow to her pride and try to eat him as well.
The Nara had never been faced with such a decision and knew, from the fact that they were in opposite directions, that he could only pick on. Feeling as if the fork in the road, had extra forks alongside each fork, only one thought passed through his mind. "Sh**..." The cons far outweighed the pros, but the pro outcome was highly desirable.
With an extra minute to weigh the options, the Nara let a silent curse slip pass his lips and sped off towards the fight between the two beasts. He hoped everything stayed in his favor after this. At least this way, he didn't have the possibility of fighting two dragons, less they want to leave an egg unguarded.
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The wind bullets that Rita had let loose found themselves buried into wooden trunks. The skybound wooden constructs began to taper off and curl, small branches beginning to emerge from them. Cervis spoke some language unintelligible and sent his herd scattering, their movements covered by the winding woods.
Mokuton: Kajukai Kōrin; Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees
Rita would have thought this whole situation funny, except by this point she was using more energy than she would have acquired just eating the deer that now seemed to flee from the battle. Now angered with that thought in mind, Rita resolved that she would have those impressive antlers for herself by the end of the day, dinner or no dinner. Indeed, she could return to Iwagakure and get some nice armor for it, perhaps even one made her look like a creature of the night.
She would have to set Neala up for that task, presuming she still remained in the village upon her return from her lengthy hiatus from civilization. While building up together a special draconian solution, and adding katon chakra to the mix, Rita dispelled her wind armor with a strong flap of her wings, sending a powerful gust that temporarily formed three small tornadoes, their power great enough to rip at the wooden barricade that Cervis had attempted to use to shelter himself.
Fūton: Kamikaze; Wind Release: Divine Wind
Rita's tornadoes were destructive, but also fairly constructive. As the buds became flowers and the flowers released their special brand of pollen, the forest soon became a windstorm of wood, debris, and sleeping pollen. He and his deer herd immune to the effects of the pollen at least, the pollen storm would deter Rita from swooping down and harassing the herd in its escape.
However, Cervis was no fool. He knew that the pollen was also very flammable, and the winds themselves could cause great concussive damage to himself and his retreating herd. To block off their escape route with a physical barrier as to protect them from this, Cervis once again stomped at the ground, his antlers glowing bright as a mighty wooden constructed seemed to emerge from the earth.
Mokuton: Mokujin no Jutsu; Wood Style: Wood Golem Jutsu
The creature of wood had no legs, but a serpentine-bodied dragon for a left arm and a large round shield for a right arm, in this manner only contrasting from its canonical counterpart. The shield dropped down to the ground, for a few seconds shaking the earth as if it were a rattle in a startled baby's hand, causing the natural trees to shake and in some cases tumble to the ground, a few of this sort even threatening to crush Jay. The shield then was swept along the landscape to redirect the winds, sending them and much of the forest flying in the general direction of Jay and Pyro and the opposite direction of the fleeing deer herd.
The dragon arm, however, shot up into the sky towards the lone flyer with great speed.
Rita's eyes widened as she began flying away from the construct and witnessed the general trajectory of the attack. She lowered her altitude and spat out the burning solution towards the pollen windstorm below just a second before being wrapped in the wooden dragon's embrace. Though tight, its constrictive strength having an odd chakra draining effect on her, Rita managed to use her own physical strength to keep from being completely crushed, along with the general resilience of her skeletal structure.
She was not entirely banking on that alone to save her; the napalm-like mixture dropped towards the flammable windstorm was her primary plan. Its ignition would most likely turn the windstorm into a giant firestorm; something Pyro could much more easily deal with in sheltering their far too humble abode.
Ryūkan: Nento Endan; Dragon Fire Release: Sticking Spit Fire Bullet
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Jay remained in the trees, movingly cautiously ahead as the quantity of chakra spiked dramatically. It wasn't long before the Earth began to tremble over the power the beast's were exerting and as dozens of trees began to topple over, a dense wall of chakra covered encompassed his vision. The next branch he landed on, cracked under his weight and he barely managed to push himself backwards as the wall of flames approached him like a derailed freight train.
The ignited pollen and surrounding trees only empowered the rapidly spreading conflagration. "Holy crap. Holy crap. Fire hot. Fire hot." He repeated quickly as he continued to hop backwards, no worries about running into a tree trunk as he hadn't had to maneuver out the way of any for a good 200 meters behind him. But as he made his impromptu backpeddle, he weaved through a series of hand seals, spreading his chakra in front of him. As he finished, he remained on the branch and grew a bit serious, half a dozen trees exploded in front of him, a rush of water shot out of each of the trees and collided with the rushing flames(1).
A sudden rush of steam would fill the area as the water seemed to immediately evaporate upon contact with the fire. It also served the purpose of stopping the spreading of the fire as well. After he did that, he panicked knowing that his chakra spike would most surely bring their attention towards him. He hoped they didn't turn on him at the same time.
1- Suiton: Teppōmizu (Water Release: Flash Flood)
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Pyro flinched, as the wooden constructs gave way to a large wall of fire. However, while he prepared his chakra for a defense, much of the fiery wave coming his way turned to steam. Rita was not a water style user; there was someone else in this forest. Pyro took a deep breath, and then began exuding his scorch release chakra; before long, the entire air began to dry, the steam diminishing more quickly than usual.
Shakuton: Sabaku Kyū- Scorch Release: Desert Coffin
The intent was to dry out the surrounding area, making it more difficult to perform wood release and water release. Of course, the arid conditions would not instantly kill off the trees, but it would have a marked effect on the environment as time passes on.
Not that Rita was surprised that the flames did not continue unabated, but she was surprised by the generation of steam. Of course, it would be around this time that Pyro's attack would begin to have its effect. Rita no longer had to worry about her family, but she did have to deal with the wooden dragon's bite and its squeeze sapping at her chakra. Once again calling upon the liquid, Rita spat the liquid fire all over the head of the wooden dragon. This time, she did not ignite it, instead leaving the fairly corrosive fluid to burn through the dragon.
Ryūkan: Nento; Dragon Fire Release: Sticking Spit
Since chakra was not the primary component, the dragon's bite would do little to diminish its effects. Although it would take a few minutes, the liquid would wear enough for dragon to force her way through the head, thankfully in part because Cervis' attention had been diverted. Now freed, she rapidly spread her wings and flew upwards.
With his herd sheltered, Cervis now needed to focus on himself. The flames, the wind, the temporary flame, the various chakra spikes. Cervis' antlers once again glowed as a tri-layer wooden dome sheltered him from the various debris. However, the wooden dragon was not through yet; though Rita had broken free, this battle was far from over. The dragon now split into two, one to continue pursuing her and the other to head after the newcomer.
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Rest came and went in what seemed like a blink of an eye. Just as the various creatures felt his addition of chakra spikes, he felt theirs turn to purpose. While he hoped against them sending their attacks towards him, he knew deep down it'd happen. What surprised him though was the wave of chakra coming from behind him, though at this point it was still a few dozen meters away. He acted fast and shedded his Gravity Seals, alleviating the effects of the extra weight and giving him the speed he needed.
He couldn't have done it at a better time, cause when he turned his attention back forward, his crimson eyes met the open maw of the wooden dragon.
He had to keep himself from throwing a punch, since his Ant Seal was no longer increasing the power it granted him from the Gravity Seal. Even though it still have his uninhabited form a strength increase, he didn't want to put it to the test against the wooden dragon.
Because he was so close to the trunk of the tree, he was able to perform a bit of acrobatics. He slipped off the back of the branch and caught the branch as he fell, as his body fell he kicked his feet and swung his body forward to create a fluid momentum for his motion to carry out. As he did this first section of his maneuver his eyes stayed on the dragon's, this entire event was figuratively moving in slow motion as every detail was recorded.
To continue his escape, he perform an olympic corkscrew flip, moving to his left, towards the trunk. Whilst in the midst of his airborne twisting, the dragon would chomp on the tree branch and release a small wave of wooden shrapnel in every direction. Fortunately, this only served as annoying debris to the Nara as he finished his twisting flip to find his feet planted on the side of the trunk, leveled with the branch he was previously on, already in a crouching position.
By this time the wave of scorch release was close enough to where he could feel it's effects. He could already feel himself becoming slightly dehydrated and pushed himself off a split second later. His speed would allow him to cover the rest of the distance between him and the battling creatures in a matter of seconds. The wooden construct behind him would no doubt suffer from the full effects of the scorch release and he would only find the river a place he wouldn't want to be in if the wave continued this far.
Though upon seeing the full size of the buck he couldn't help but exclaim. "Holy sh**, that's a big a** f****** buck!" Because of his eldest brother had bestowed upon him the bloodline, Hiki Toucho, he had developed an intimate relation with animals of every possible species and he had never seen a creature as Mystical as this buck in front of him. Surprise, seemed to be the only plausible reaction anybody could have. Of course he knew it was this size from the irregular amount of blood pumping through its veins, but seeing was far better than sensing.
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Cervis was the first to consider his options. Yes, Rita had earlier ignited the pollen and caused a significant amount of the forest to burn away; however, that had been a problem before when his herd was still threatened. With Rita building up chakra, seemingly to her neck it seemed, Cervis had to assume that she was either preparing to use another fire or wind attack, or she intended on using sound.
An empowered roar would be tricky to deal with. With the drying conditions beginning to cause cracks even in his wood releases, and the sky beginning to cloud up from the condensing water (evaporated from below) it was becoming clear that his best bet now was to retreat someplace the dragon had so far not displayed an affinity for.
More or less sheltered by the dome, Cervis would be surprised to find that he had apparently been spotted; no doubt the work of some sort of special dojutsu, Cervis was unsure of whether to consider the individual friend or foe. However, instinct told him to, for now, go with foe; ending the pursuit of the various wooden dragons, Cervis seemed to sink into the ground, using Doton to soften the tunneling portions of the ground as he retreated into the recesses of the earth. Where he retreated there would not even be left a hole nor a soft spot, using Doton to re-harden the ground in order to make it more difficult to track.
Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu; Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique
Rita, her preparations finished, was partially relieved to see that the wooden dragon had stopped its pursuit; having to dodge it and use her next technique would leave her, how one might would say, very challenged for oxygen. Nonetheless, now only needing to flap her wings, Rita let loose a chakra-laced song that, upon hearing, would cause extreme drowsiness, to the point of falling asleep where one stood.
Dragon Illusion: Temple of Nirvana; Ryūgen: Nehan Shōja
While normally Rita would belt to the point of being able to be heard all across the landscape (especially when flying above it) she refrained this time due to Pyro's vulnerability to genjutsu; she did not want him falling asleep on her while there still remained opposing pieces on the chessboard. As a result, its reach would only go about a mile out from the start of the encounter, the airwaves up to about Rita's altitude of some 200 feet in the air.
Of course, due to Rita holding back, Cervis swiftly tunneling some distance into the ground, several dozen feet he had mustered by the time the song had begun would keep him from succumbing to the effects of the jutsu. In fact, he would hardly even feel the vibrations of the song at all at his depth, and it would be here where Cervis would begin maneuvering (but maintaining his depth) towards Jay.
Pyro would continue to maintain the jutsu, ever alert to his surroundings.
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Jay had to admit that things were getting pretty dicey with the retreating signature of the burrowing buck, leaving the dome even more hollow than it already was. (Forgot about the dome and edits the previous exclamation for a simple context change. While he didn't see it, the size comparison between him and the dome of wood, coupled with the lingering sensation from the "blood survey" would give an astute estimation of the size. Then he would compare it to the dragon's size and make his statement, this all happening in the span of a few seconds.) The dragon seemed to be doing the same thing, until he felt the subtle sensation of an auditory Genjutsu creeping on his senses. His danger senses seemed blurred by the drowsy effect of the technique and to escape it, he had to play back and forth with the Nature Energy he was using for his Nature Armor. The constant disruption of his chakra system would keep him from succumbing to the effects of the dragon's song, but would hinder the usage of his chakra. His EMS could barely remain active from this unnecessary defense, but he didn't rely too heavily on his chakra, but he was faced with a problem.
Now that he was here, what should he do? He obviously didn't think this decision through enough as he felt the scorching temperature behind him, still approaching, the wood dragons biting the dust as they seemed to back off. Though he was still concerned about creeping scorch chakra, the buck that now seemed to be approaching him from below ground, and the dragon above. It was like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, as well as a hungry dragon.
Though these thoughts flowed through his mind, a grin seemed plastered on his face at the excitement of the situation. This was way better than doing paperwork. His muscles tensed as he prepared himself for whatever he needed to do.
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As a sensor, Rita would be able to determine the effectiveness of her song. Of course, it seemed to have relatively little effect; both Cervis and the recent arrival more or less had chakras reminscent of not wavering. Not wasting chakra, then, on continuing the song, Rita would fly higher, using her sensory to relocate the fleeing herd. They could get far on hoof, but she could easily catch them in flight, esspecially if the individual below distracted Cervis for her.
When Rita ceased her song and began flying higher, Cervis reconsidered his approach and came to a halt several feet (horizontally, true distance is much greater because of depth) before being directly beneath the new individual.
He was underground, and the dragon likely knew that. So what move would she make? If she intended on pursuing his herd he needed to deal with that; if she intended on attacking the individual, then an opportunity for 2v1 would make itself apparent. Nonetheless, as preparation, he would remain still, for now, gathering natural energy in preparation for retaliating against Rita.
Though unaffected by the ground above beginning to crack and plants beginning to die off from the intense, desert like heat, the skies above began clouding. This, in itself, would also provide an opportunity, but the source of the heat was another dragon some distance off.
One that had not made the effort to come help. The chakra signature was unfamiliar, so Cervis had to assume another newcomer; the association with Rita was unclear, but without a doubt the source of this desertification-worthy heat. At this rate the entire forest would wither and die, leaving his herd without food nor shelter.
With that in mind, Cervis switched prerogatives, but continued to gather natural energy. An exchange, perhaps, would be necessary.
Pyro kept up the jutsu, seeing Rita flying in the air a comforting sight. Indeed, at this point water release would take a signfiicant amount of work to amount to, and wood releasse would be quite difficult to execute. Of course, Pyro gently flapped his wings backwards in ordert to cool the cave, not wanting the nest to get too warm. Not that the eggs would complain, nor be in any serious danger thanks to their heritage, but Pyro was not looking for a premature hatching neither.
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Jay calmed himself down, the proceedings happening around him slowing to a crawl as he tapped into his reserves. He immediately sensed the halting buck below him, directly it seemed and the dragon above him reneged on her illusion. Things began looking up for him, because he slipped into his Sage Mode, using the Nature Energy from his Armor, while his stillness had slowly began gathering a miniscule amount of the Energy around him, the buck taking a great deal of it, while the dragon's scorching heat killed off more. An idea formed in his mind, he would need to be quick because he felt it was about time to go on the offensive.
In Sage Mode, he would be able to execute his plan with ease. Before he began weaving through a series of hand seals, he released a sliver of his chakra to prepare himself. His frame exploded in a surge of chakra as he weaved through his hand seals, manipulating a great deal of his chakra, his warm up moments ago had served it's purpose.
He completed his series of hand seals and pulled every sliver of his chakra around him, back to his person. When every atom of chakra was stored within the snake seal, his eyes developed a crazed look as he pulled his hands from the seal and slammed them on the ground with a strong tremor.
When his hands impacted the ground a pulse of his Senjutsu Explosive Chakra would seep into the ground, rushing down 250 meters and spreading outwards in the same distance in every direction(1).
After the chakra had fully fused to the Earth below, the Nara would make his escape. Obviously he couldn't really vanish in a white flash towards one of the many Hiraishin markers he laid in his journey over her, so he chose the next best thing. He formed a single hand seal and his shadow grew much darker below him as he took control over it. He would then proceed to sink into it(2), at the last moment, before he fully disappeared into the pitch black material he formed a new hand seal, priming his chakra for detonation.
A total of five seconds after he completely disappeared, the chakra acting as sort of a countdown, the Earth would explode. The blast radius would be unknown to the Nara but it would spread out a little over half a mile, the shockwave would continue for another quarter. Pyro, being the furthest away, would only feel a buffering wind impact the cave, the trees in the shockwave would only topple over, completely ripped from their roots.
Any wildlife in the immediate area would be destroyed without a trace left of them, further away, about 650 meters would just become charred as fire replaced the forest. And a very deep crater would scar the Earth below, it seeming to be a pitch black hole in the ground.
The Nara would be completely exhausted in the Shadow Dimension, panting as he could feel the loss of a quarter of his reserves. Not to mention using the technique had only been so effective because he poured so much chakra into it to make sure that it bore the desired fruit... something he didn't even know himself. ["Perfect. Destroy. Bring Chaos to this forest. Next time, target one of your precious human settlements."]
The voice would echo in the man's mind, immediately identifying the owner as Amatsu-Mikaboshi's. He rolled onto his stomach and staggered to his feet. "Damn, I did not want to use that much chakra." He already had been using Senjutsu Chakra, he didn't need anymore. He only prayed that his objective hadn't been destroyed in the blast, neither of then.
1- Bakuton: Wakusei Shometsu (Explosive Release: Planetary Annihilation)
2- Kageton: Kuraku Shikichi (Shadow Release: Darkened Threshold)
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Upon sensing Jay's great release/preparation of chakra, Cervis ceased gathering natural energy and molded what he had gathered into senjutsu. Needless to be stated, this would greatly increase the power of his techniques, his sensory, and his physical abilities.
All three would be important as Jay performed his handsigns and slammed his palms onto the ground. Sensing the chakra surging towards him, Cervis released Doton chakra throughout the earth, using his chakra to surround the chakra sinking downwards. His chakra surging upwards, from beneath Jay the ground would seem to erupt rock, shooting it (and possibly him) upwards akin to a minature volcano. Now, the purpose would be to get the rock "infected" with Jay's chakra into the air, dramatically reducing the depth of which his charges would potentially go off, presuming the interruption from the eruption did not rupture his plan bubble.
Doton: Kaido Shōkutsu; Earth Style: Erupt
Much of the chakra was focused on sending the rock and such skywards towards Rita. Were Jay to still detonate the rocks, not only would Cervis be fairly safe (not perfectly, but far better than before) but Rita would have to be greatly concerned by the explosion. In trading for depth range the explosion would then reach further skyward and outward, with relatively minimal impact on the ground below.
To protect himself from what explosion would remain, however, Cervis hardened his body to a point rivaling diamond, greatly enhancing his general defense.
Doton: Domu; Earth Style: Earth Spear
Some miles away from the fighting, however, several deer, mostly the antlered bucks, would suddenly drop to the ground, their antler glowing a bright white glow. Though they were several miles out, if there was an explosion, they would be forced to once again retreat and find some relative cover from the fiery hail. Some would be luckier than others in that regard, but more on that if the explosion even still occurs.
The amount of chakra being used below concerned Rita, but it seemed as if the newcomer was directing his/her energies towards Cervis. That seemed like a good sign, until the eruption of rock and such. While she could sense the explosive release chakra within it, the initial danger were the sharp, shrapnel-like projectiles that threatened to pierce through her body. Using her chakra, she would once again form wind armor around herself, and rapidly begin flying higher. More on her reaction, again, once the outcome of the attack(s) is fully determined, since if the rocks were to be detonated that would likely cause enough trouble to force a landing, while their lack of detonation would permit her to proceed with flying.
Jūha Reppū Shō no Yoroi; Beast Tearing Gale Palm Armor
As for Pyro, well, if the detonation were to occur, he would be forced to not just take shelter deeper in the cave, but also curl his body about the nest and shelter himself from the brimestone in that fashion. Being at such a distance would prevent him from being in any truly life threatening danger, but paternal instincts would rule at that point. If the explosion did not occur then Pyro would simply remain in place. By now, however, he would see that his quarry had far more than wood and water to use, and would stop the earlier scorch release technique. This would cause the darkened skies to begin to, at first anyways, gently begin to sprinkle, proceeding to a full downpour within about 2-3 turns worth.
-
In the process of reaching it's intended depth, the Nara's Senjutsu chakra would meet the Senjutsu chakra from the mythical buck that was Cervis. This would be the only cause of it halting, the resulting battle for dominance between the two Senjutsu chakras. "Oh crap." The Nara, clearly understanding the danger of the situation, would make his escape sooner with much haste. The volatile Senjutsu chakra would erupt very shortly after the buck's technique took effect. As every square inch of the ground, the volcano still in the midst of rising, and the rocks it erupted from its large maw, would explode.
Instead of the single explosion, dozens upon dozens of explosions, ranging from large to small would fill the area. Of course, this depended on the amount of earth that had been available prior to the explosions. Though the buck had intended to protect himself from the full dangers of the explosion, he greatly heightened the danger the forest was in. The Nara had attempted to keep the explosion contained, to an extent. Though, with the raised earth, the explosion had more than just a shockwave of fire, but now molten slag would join the force as it attacked every single direction with extreme prejudice, tearing into the burning trees like a hot knife in butter.
Though the blast radius was lessened by a quarter of its original radius, the damage was extensively greater than intended. Cervis, would be the closest to the blast and it may have backfired on him depending on how much earth was between him and the explosion. The dragons, Rita more importantly, would be in immediate danger as the erupting rocks would be in her vicinity as Cervis had devised an opportunity to turn his attack towards the airborne dragon. Pyro would still see the explosion, but would only feel a slight breeze.
The Nara, in the separate dimension, would groan as he stood to his feet. This was not how he wanted to spend his day... but he was enjoying himself. At this point in time, he just needed to get himself ready, first things first would be for him to gather more nature energy in the lush environment of the shadow dimension. He hadn't been here since he learned how to manipulate Nature Energy and enter Sage Mode, as well as earn his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. A soft sigh would escape his lips as he sat with his legs crossed, he would be safe from interruption as he gathered the energy.
-
The intended missive would be to spout out the rocks with explosive chakra. There wouldn't be a molten component except for perhaps near the base, due to the intense heat of the explosive chakra building up (as it was originally ssupposed to be spread out more). Indeed, though Cervis had avoided the brunt of the attack, he managed to tank a significant amount of it thanks to the Earth Spear technique. However, the apocalyptic attack would have devastating effects on the forest, and even though his herd was quite far from the danger, he could still sense them fleeing even further.
Of course, the farther they went the harder it would be to get chakra from them. But you know, self-preservation isn't just for the head right?
Rita merely had a few years to look upon her life; for it seemed to be flashing before her very eyes, very much in synchronization with the flash caused by the detonation of the rocks below. Wait, was that her life, or was that her wind armor catching aflame?
Rita shed her wind armor, but already she was spiralling towards the ground. When had she went from flying to falling? Had she temporarily blacked out? Too many questions and not enough self-preserving action going on Rita reasoned. She opened her wings and flapped, howling out as pain shot through those limbs. As if adding insult to injury her body was pummeled by earth and fire, only hastening her descent to the scarred earth below.
The ground gave her a warm kiss, a trench made from her skid/slide along the ground. Her body was in pain indescribable not because of its severity, but because of the dimming coherence. The force of the explosion had done much of the initial damage; the fall and the debris had by and large done the rest. Rita tried to shake herself of it, knowing that to lose consciousness fully would be the death of her at this point.
Pyro felt it. He had seen it. And he had heard it. The debris plinked at the cave and the shockwaves revebrated its halls, but Rita's pained cries rang far louder. Without a moment more delay he took off from the cavern. Finding her wouldn't be too hard; most of the green had been stripped from the land, so she would stand out nicely among the charred earth.
Cervis emerged from the ground several feet from Rita, a sizeable smile on his face. Seeing her this beaten put a bit of accomplishment in his breast, but at the same time sadness. He was not fond of what came next, but the beast had been warned.
Well, had she been warned? It did not matter at this point; kill or be killed, that was the nature of fight-or-flight. Sensing that he had taken a tad too much chakra from some of his bucks, Cervis opted to drop his earth spear technique, softening his body back to its more natural, fleshy state; while that other dragon might would make haste towards them, if Cervis had Rita in his clutches, he might could bargain so that he would not have to fight yet another dragon.
Rain began to fall at this point, strangely enough, as if the moisture of the area had finally deemed it time to return. As if invigorated by this drizzle, the ground sprouted several trees that snaked about and restricted Rita all about her limbs, torso, and neck, lifting her a few feet into the air for effect.
Cervis turned towards the approaching Pyro, his eyes gleaming murderously.
-
Momentarily unaware of the danger the female dragon was in, the Nara took his time in gathering the Nature Energy. The gathered energy would glow a tad as it formed the Nature Armor once again. The man contemplated on whether or not he should form his Nature Bubble as well, getting an idea as to his plan of action. He waited a few more moments before his Armor was completely reformed.
He figured that would be enough and he'd be able to tap into Sage Mode if he needed to. He stood to God's feet, cutting his connection to the N.E off and he would focus his chakra towards the lone seal on his back, hidden by his hair.
Resting in the midst of his shoulder blades, a seal could be noted, the Kanji reading 'Protection' and a bramble like circle would wrap around it, to keep it from activating accidently. The Kanji would give off a glow before it began to spark to life. Activating this seal took a bit of time, which he was thankful to have at this moment. He would need to practice with this to shorten it up, you never know when you might need it.
The seal would continue to spark, the pulses of energy coming from it would cause the muscle under the seal to throb from the activity. Jay waited patiently as the pulses increased until it spontaneously activated.
In dramatic fashion, akin to the Guyver, black threads of chakra would burst from his back. The tendrils would wrap around the entirety of his body. After the energy rested for a moment, it shattered like glass and physical armor was in it's place.
(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpPx4e_GW3HPo6YUMoRcNij5WQpJx46spfCewJwr1XgkcKMDvG)
The mask was a last minute addition to the over aspect of the armor. Having crafted it some few weeks ago, incorporating the same sealing "technology" to allow him to see through the material. His Manji had the same Fuinjutsu design for their masks, which meant that it wouldn't feel all too alien to the Nara. Behind him, his hair had been wrapped in the black threads as well and had been tied in a metallic braid.
He stretched his frame, moving every which way possible. This would be second time he's worn the armor, the first being when it was first made some odd month ago. It was a tight, yet loose fit. He clenched and opened his hand, walking around for a moment. Like last time, everything felt perfect, almost like a second skin. Of course it was heavy and it may seem excessive, but he could handle it perfectly. As the Manji Leader, he needed a set of armor that set him apart from the others, at least in his mind. He did obtain this set of armor before he had revived the black ops group.
He smiled behind the metal of the mask and made his way back towards the battlefield in a shadowy vortex, reappearing in the same place he vanished.
-
Pyro by now flew over the scene of the temporary hostage-taking; Rita, there on the ground in the grasp of wooden structures, and the likely cuprit being the deer with the glowing antlers.
Something was very wrong in the natural order of things, Pyro determined.
"I warned her not to take at my herd, but she snapped at me like some madman; I presume you care for her well-being, so I will present an offer-" Cervis gave a small frown as he continued, noticing the return of the other individual. He had intended on having them vacate the premises with thier pride intact, but there was still this intruder, who had not only tried to kill him but had severely damaged the forest as well, that needed to be dealt with.
Thus, Cervis mid-sentence switched deals, never showing that he had conidered letting them off relatively easily. " - Help me be rid of this man here, who has the gall to meddle and destroy much of this forest without regard for the creatures in it. Help me kill him and she will be all yours, safe and sound."
Though still dazed, Rita managed to catch the offer itself. Granted, the newcomer had inadvertny led to her downfall, but Rita could determine from the chakra nature that whatever hybrid the man was, Nara was in his blood. Which meant he may have come for the antlers.
Not that she was in a position to contest that, she hardly could fight for her own life at this point, but after all of the trouble she had went through she very much intended on having those antlers mounted on a wall somewhere. Maybe her good friend had finally found some residency and would summon her in a timely fashion?
Rita would not count on that, and instead begin focusing her chakra into her body. She didn't quite place her chakra where she wanted it yet, sshe didn't want to tip Cervis off to her sleigh because she needed him a little closer for quick execution. The rain had literally put a damper on some of the remaining fires of the forest, but hers grew a bit stronger.
Pyro was no mind reader nor was he a sensor. Truthfully the man's arrival on the ground several feet away from where they were had gone somewhat unnoticed by Pyro until Cervis had proposed his deal. Now seeing him, Pyro turned to face him, his options rather limited and his attachment to Rita far greater than that of a mere stranger. Of course, would the deer uphold the bargain? There was no telling, but it was his best chance.
"Uphold your end of the deal when this is finished, buck. What's the plan?"
You go in and roast him of course is what Cervis wanted to say, but he suspected that such a frontal assault would be easily dodged. After all, the man had dodged that earlier explosion with hardly a scratch on him. Arguably he had become even tougher since then, if his appearance and chakra were anything to go by.
"He has the ability to use a strange jutsu that allows him to teleport; if your dragon friend here were still in good shape I would have her use genjutsu. Unfortunately that is not an option, so for now, we wait a moment; see what move he makes."
-
Upon his reappearance he noticed, amongst other things, the ever growing presence of the falling water droplets. He smiled behind the mask, his single visible eye gleamed through the only hole in the mask. He remained quiet throughout their scheming and just as still. Any thoughts that had passed through his mind at the sight of the captured dragon, while didn't go away, changed. With this in mind, he once again pulled the Natural Energy inside of him, his features once again undergoing the effects of his Sage Mode. While they were hidden, his sclera had returned to its black color. The energy around him, seeping from his very armor, was icy cold. So much so that every droplet of water that hit the metal, froze and shattered, in nearly the same instance.
Like them, he watched, but his patience had worn thin with all the targeting he was receiving. The scent of blood would be picked up by those with such sharp senses, marking the activation of a technique. Though what followed would surely be surprising(1), as the Nara's voice would be muffled by the rain, spoken in a whisper and further hushed from behind the mask. "Coward." Like the technique he used before, Flash Flood, the wood holding Rita captive would explode as the water rushed out of it. Though the tough scales of her frame would protect her from the various wooden shrapnel that launched out in every direction. Even so, the wood wouldn't have much force to it since it was so close, but that still might present a small problem to her under belly, but nothing too serious.
The Nara formed a seal, in that same instance, the water moved to attack the mystical buck in five separate streams. The attacking streams, hydrokinetically controlled by the Mangekyou technique, were an easy 4 feet long with the first foot developing a frozen and rather sharp point to it(2). The Nara wasted no time as his chakra released rapid pulses. With the pulses, the first two streams would turn completely into ice and attempt to pierce the buck's side. The next two would dip down and attempt to jab itself into the buck's back legs, if successful the water behind it would act as thread and would freeze and shoot down towards the ground with surprising force. The last stream would instead form a crescent like shape, the very edge becoming sharp ice in an attempt to remove the buck's very large antlers. While he did wish for a trophy and sought to embarrass the buck, as a Nara, he couldn't help but wonder how rare such antlers were and just had to synthesize some special medicines from it. He was vastly aware of how the clan helped in create the Akimichi pills from normal antlers. These might just be what he was looking for.
This entire event would happen with such ferocity and speed that it would surely come as a surprise. Pyro would find no real reason to collaborate with the buck. Rita, while hurt, would be freed from the capture. Cervis would find that his wood techniques, made from water just as much as earth, would be rather useless in the presence of the ruthless Nara.
1-Ryujin (Dragon God of the Sea)
2-Hyoton: Gokkan no Makihige (Ice Release: Frigid Tendrils)
-
Cervis would indeed notice the chakra flow and the activation of the jutsu that targetted the water near and within the plants; by flowing natural energy and mokuton chakra into the wood, Cervis would be capable of prolonging any problems caused by the rogue water manipulation.
What was the purpose of this delaying action? Well, it was two-folded: it would allow Cervis to coordinate an attack on the man, increase the pressure within the plants themselves, and layer his wood release with more, how one might would say, wood, though of the dead variety that had little to no water in it to start. This would make Rita's restraints somewhat more bulky for the time being, but it would prevent the bursting of the wood, at least for now.
"Water release, and explosive release hm!"
Pyro did not see nor really sense much of any change, save for the transformation of the water drops to ice upon the man's armor. This ruled out a physical attack on the individual, and so Pyro called forth several balls of scorch release chakra. Pyro would then direct a volley (6) towards Jay. Each ball of scorch release chakra had the capability of mummifying the average man, with temperatures so great that the drops of water around it merely evaporated before coming into direct contact with the balls.
Shakuton: Kajōsatsu – Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder
Expecting his quarry to dodge the first volley, Pyro readied another volley, already combining it into a much larger scorch release ball than before.
Light. Light had never been so welcoming, so warming, than when Pyro readied his scorch release balls. Rita, unlike Pyro, could sense the chakras of her restraints, and then, having used her small down time to regain her wits and assess the situation, she ascertained that the man indeed had intentions on freeing her, or at the least using the water in the wood for a sneak attack. What with Cervis attempting to resist only increasing the danger and imminent threat to her, Rita funnelled her built up chakra into her mind and shadow; the moment that Pyro's lights directed Cervis' shadow within reach, Rita's own shadow would snap at the connection like a predator would its attempting to flee prey.
The intent was to subject Cervis to a genjutsu that would bind him in a tree made entirely of shadow tendrils; much like its parent technique, it would bind the user in a genjutsu with aforementioned visuals, but it would also bind the target physically via shadow imitation. If Jay were much of a sensor he would likely notice Cervis' chakra signature alteration and that the conjoined shadows seemed to defy the light of the fireballs, albeit, his focus may have been more on dodging those than anything else.
Dragon Illusion: Shadow Tree Binding Death; Ryūgen:Kage Jubaku Satsu
More importantly, this restraint would be intended on leaving an opening, for as long as Rita kept up the shadow connection the alpha deer would be trapped, both body and mind, and be unable to sustain jutsu nor dodge the man's next attack, presuming it did not involve breaking the connection between the shadows.
Cervis would not be caught entirely off guard by Rita's attack, but between trying to keep the wood from bursting (so that Pyro would not assume he had renegaded on the deal and try to kill him) and staying alert for the man's retaliation, his options were tied; he would be bound by a tree of shadowy tendrils, but also release his hold on the aforementioned jutsu, causing the wooden restraints to, at this point, burst with greater force than before. The wood shrapnel would now likely have the force to get through some of Rita's scale armor, but not quite enough to go completely through her; large and painful splinters would be her reward for her disregard for Cervis' cause.
-
Jay couldn't help but be a tad annoyed by the buck's prowess in controlling Nature Energy. Even in Sage Mode, and using one of his Mangekyou's abilities, he hadn't been fast enough to succeed in his plan. The water from the wood having been the basis for his entire assault. He could use the water droplets falling from the sky, but chose not to. One side of his lips lifted in a devilish smirk behind the hardened mask. Even if he was able to get the buck to look through the only eyehole in the mask and slip it into a powerful Genjutsu of his own, he would still have the fiery dragon above him to deal with.
Speaking of which, said dragon spewed a small multitude of fire balls at him. He knew from chakra composition alone, that they were similar to the wall of immense heat he encountered on his way into his current situation. Not to mention he's dealt with Scorch Release before and it was never pretty. He didn't have to come up with a solid plan as his instincts took hold of his muscles and forced him into action.
His body lurched forward, towards the buck, as blackened lightning(1) surged around him from the sudden pulse of his Nature enhanced chakra. The burst of lightning enhanced speed would allow him to close the distance between him and his target while also providing a speedy evasion from the scorching hot fireballs that rained from the mouth of the dragon. He knew that if he'd had went any other way, it'd only give his target an extra second or so of providing a way out of it's shadowy bonds.
In that same instance, while Cervis was immobile from the captive dragon's shadow illusion, he had pressed for his attack. He aimed to use the high frequency cutting power of his own armored plated hand to slice the buck's head clean off. Considering the conditions in which the buck found itself in, his attack had a very high probability of finding it's mark.
In concern for the airborne dragon, Pyro, he would/should realize by now that he was attempting to release his mate from her bonds, even though he was partially the reason she was in said wooden bonds.
1- Senjutsu: Raiton no Yoroi
-
As with all revolutions of the Natural Order, heads must roll before order is restored. Cervis of course would not be consciously aware of his head being removed from his body; rather, his final thoughts perhaps included the slight humor in the manner of his own capture. Though he was not aware of it, Jay's attack would not only hit its mark, but meet fairly little resistance; the head would gracefully dismount before ungracefully plopping into the muddy ground, some spurts of blood adding some gore for effect as Cervis' body realized that a piece was missing.
With Cervis' death Rita released her jutsu so that the body could drop fairly unceremoniously to the ground with the same amount of fanfare as the head; only the pitter patter of the rain and the cackling of the lightning release armor. Presuming Jay stopped his jutsu when he did not immediately succeed, Rita would now be left wwith the still intact wooden bonds to deal with. Not too much to worry about, Rita used her chakra to slightly decrease her overall size; not a grand amount mind you, but just enough to slip one of her forelegs out of the restraints.
"Pyro! Put that scorch release ball away and come help me get out of this!"
Pyro, seeing the death of the buck and the fact that his target had dodged his attack, frowned. He would dispel the larger scorch release ball and fly over to Rita, if uninterrupted or not beaten to the punch, he would physically pry the remaining wood release restraints from her body, the high water content of the wood making it much bendier than normal. Regardless though of her or Jay's reaction Pyro would ask,
"So what about this man? Do you know him?"
-
Jay's crimson hues watched as his lightning coated hand sever the buck's head from his body. A smirk broke his face as the lightning around his left hand vanished as it swiftly reached out to grab at one of the many antlers that proudly stood up on the head. In the same process, his body turned and his left foot stomped down on the muddied ground, stopping his motion on a dime. Like a marionette without it's strings, the body of the buck fell to the ground, blood mixing with the rainwater.
Jay paid little mind to the buck's body and looked at the head in his grasp. The smirk turned to a smile and a deep sigh escaped his lips. At that moment, he lifted his right hand up to look at it. It was still coated in lightning chakra and he put an end to that, along with the rest of his body. As his chakra calmed down, his hand formed a fist for a moment, this time his armor began to shine white. As he slowly, quite dramatically in fact, opened his hand the material of his armor began to burn away, the 'ashes' whooshing away with the wet winds around him. This burning affect traveled up his arm and spread throughout his entire frame, his hair breaking away from its bindings like a small explosion.
All the pieces of his deactivating armor pushed into his back, between his shoulders blades and reformed the Protector Seal that resided in his skin. Speaking of which, the man was only wearing a pair of karate styled pants, black in color with a crimson belt to keep them secure around his lower frame. His feet were left bare as well, his hair, now wet, cascaded down his back in black waves. "Well... that was fun." He commented as the black streaks running down his cheeks and the black in his sclera melted away, his Sage Mode fading from his features as well. He turned his attention towards the two dragons, hearing them talking amidst his detransformation. "We do not know each other." He tightened his grip around the antler and hefted the head up a bit more, letting a bit more of the blood fall from the severed head before he sealed it in one of the seals that decorated his fingers. "But I would like to apologize to you, for getting you captured... My name is Jay Nara." He lifted his hand towards the heavens and, with his Ryujin still active, sent a powerful pulse of his chakra towards the dark clouds above to will the water in the clouds to completely disperse. Warranted he wasn't interrupted, the sun would once again shine down on them from above. Once this was finished, his chakra would completely calm down as the technique was deactivated as well. "You can have the body for lunch though." He smiled brightly, his crimson hues even fading from view as well, revealing golden orbs on par with the sun above. He had to play things carefully now. The next few moments would determine whether he gained allies or foes.
-
"A Nara huh?"
Well that would explain why the man was trying to make off with her prize, then. With Pyro helping her up, Rita flapped at her wings in irritation, though did not immediately protest the seizure of the antlers. Judging by his action from earlier, she was not in the greatest of shape to engage him if it came to a fight over the antlers; reasoning with this Nara Jay would likely be her best route.
"Well then, Nara Jay, my name is Rita. This is Pyro. If you have ever lived in Konohagakure I am sure you have heard of me, though if not that is quite fine too. I believe you are quite mistaken, I am not interested in the body, as it was not the body that nearly led to my death a few moments ago. No, the prize here are the antlers, which as a Nara I am sure you are aware have various applications and uses."
Pyro would follow along, sizing up the now not as impressive visually man. A Nara? More than just a Nara, Pyro deduced, as the man didn't even seem to use shadow imitation from what he had seen of him. Nonetheless he would flank Rita with wings opened wide, awaiting either a call to action or a place to input his own thoughts. When Rita mentioned that her prize was the antlers, Pyro halfway scoffed.
"All of that for some antlers? Tch."
Rita did not pay Pyro too much mind, her stoic face downturning somewhat in a frown. "So tell me Jay; what are those antlers worth to you?"
-
Worth? Quite a lot if the proved the vital catalyst to the breakthrough. Still though, the process was still experimenting with ingredients to form a stimulating synthesis that would have the proper effect. Would it be right to inform a dragon of such scientific experiments in this situation? He shrugged, his thumbs slipping below his belt as he looked into Rita's eyes, first glancing towards Pyro's direction as he spoke. "I've not come here for the antlers, they merely prove to be a bonus to some scientific efforts back home. I've never resided within Konoha, but I'm not exactly far off. Uzushiogakure is where I currently call home, but back to the subject at hand."
He began to pace, not one of nervousness, but merely an adopted habit he picked up from his grandfather when in the process of explaining things. "As I mentioned, back home I'm heading some valuable research in hopes of creating something a tad similar to the Akimichi's special pills... minus such a devastating drawback of course..." Also something that wouldn't be in stages like the three pills, more like capacity, but he didn't feel the need to verbally add this note. But he knew that he was simply rambling without cutting straight to the point, this thought caused him to chuckle softly, it being just like his gramps. "I want it to be used by those that can. I'm attempting to create a Nature Pill, if you will. A rapid and near immediate infusion of Nature Energy in one's chakra system. Of course, I tried just simply pouring in Nature Energy into a pill, but without anything to keep it 'Naturally Sealed' it kept bursting apart. Further research pointed me towards the binding process towards pills of power, i.e, Soldier Pills, as they're so widely referred."
He took a short break, bringing his arms up and crossed them in front of his chest. He didn't know if he was revealing too much about this, or if this feat had already been achieved. If so, then it was dead as he hadn't heard anything about it. His brow furrowed in thought as thought about that possibility, which in any case he'd be reviving it. He shook his head, to return his attentions to the dragons, his mind also returning to his original objective, which was to get a dragon egg. Did he make the right decision after all? Even that he wasn't sure of.
"Knowing about the properties of dear antlers, though being widely used for medicinal purposes, these mythical antlers might prove more than capable." His attention went towards the downed body at that moment, noting that she had no interest in it, but a study of it might prove useful as well. Otherwise, how else would he figure out how it came to be? But he kept it where it was, maybe they'd have a change of heart and decide they wanted it. The blood in the head would be just enough for any study, not to mention the brain.
-
Though one might would think that Rita would have glazed over, as him simply stating that he wanted a "Nature Pill" had been enough for Rita to get the jist. From her companion and from her experiences, such a thing already existed in nature, in the form of special bloodlines, bodily enhancements, and of course, with the tailed beasts. Rita had no intentions on spoiling anything however, especially since she had motivation of acquiring the antlers.
"A pill that stores enough natural energy to allow you to enter sage mode could be a very dangerous, but convenient, tool. If you don't do it right, you could end up poisoning yourself, as natural energy is not something you simply ingest-"
While Pyro had checked out at the mention of Nature Pill, his eyes seemed to become less shiny at the word ingest.
"- I think both of you are missing the point here. Rita, you want the antlers. If that deer took in natural energy it was probably the same way a living thing would take it in. I don't see how the antlers are going to be of any use to this guy's research."
After all, the two of them had left it completely unguarded, albeit, the eggs were not simply just sitting out in the open. Still, they were unable to defend themselves, and the quagmire that had delayed Pyro's assisting Rita now tugged at his instincts to return, and promptly. Of course, again, Pyro was speaking mostly with Rita, and though he did not ignore Jay, he noticeably did not seem to be addressing him.
Pyro's interruption, while it did slightly irritate Rita, did remind her of part of the reason she had been out in the forest in the first place. Part of the reason she was out here. Of course, Jay would likely notice Rita's habitual avoiding of direct eye contact, a courtesy of Rares Uchiha.
"Pyro may have a point. The Akimichi pills, if I recall correctly, grant chakra by converting natural reserves of fat; if that is the case, then the issue is likely that you are using the wrong templates. Even the military rations pills have drawbacks, its stimulants invigorating the mind and the nutrients the body, but leaving one near death-exhausted at the end of the tenure. Natural energy is a foreign component for most human bodies-"
Pyro coughed, interrupting Rita again. Rita stayed stopped this time, and Pyro directly looked toward Jay with an expectant look. For the first time he would directly address Jay since his arrival.
"The antlers if you will?"
-
The Nara's attitude didn't change a bit from the male dragon's constant pestering about the antlers. His golden hues glanced towards the male for a moment as he spoke for a moment. "Haven't you heard of, 'keep what you kill' it's only fair if I keep it~" He playfully teased the dragon, as it was for every being that had short tempers. From what he could gather, from this entire ordeal, Rita was either the strongest or ruthless... maybe one in the same. Why else would she be hunting and he be on guard duty? But with his jest, he might still invoke the wrath of a dragon, so he kept his chakra warm like a small ember just waiting for the moment to burst into a wildfire.
In the meantime he turned to Rita, if Pyro hadn't decided to charge at him like a wild boar. What she was saying, he already knew. It was merely the concept of their ways of going about it. As the pills fed off the fat reserves and the soldier pills literally forced it's effects on the mind and body, the nature pills will indeed release the stored natural energy, depending on the reserves of the user. He chuckled softly at this. "I guess I should have mentioned the capacity portion of the research. I've already had a solution for that in mind. I call it the Limiter Seal. Much like how it sounds, it would work in conjunction with the client. The client would first gather nature energy, if able, slip into a comfortable stage of Sage Mode and with a few adjustments to the formula... each of their pills would be limited to that specific amount."
He lifted a hand to his chin, softly scratching the tuff of hair decorating the location. He already knew his own limit and since he was the only client at the moment, he was at the basis for the current formula template. "I'm not a stranger to Natural Energy... but mix a constant flow of Nature Energy into something special like antlers and you might just be surprised at the changes." Here's to hoping obviously. But it led him to thinking of why they would want the antlers, if not for the same reason... not the exact same reason, but along the lines of it. But seeing as how they obviously didn't want the body, then he'd take it... and eat it later after it was studied. He sealed it the next moment, with the same method.
As he returned to his full height, he returned his attention back to Pyro, his golden hues leering right into the dragon's, but he was obviously addressing Rita with his question. "Pray tell, what do you wish to do with the antlers?"
-
What DID Rita want to do with the antlers? Well, she knew what she could do with them, but what her endgame intentions were were not quite as clear at the moment. Noticing Jay taking the body of the deer, she began to feel apprehensive as it seemed her own efforts were in grave danger of being whisked away.
"If the antlers are merely a bonus and not worth much to you, then you should be quite willing to part with them, even if I were to tell you that I would mount the antlers for decoration."
Pyro would have chuckled had that not been his own thoughts on what to do with the antlers. The way she put it though it seemed like that was a lesser idea than grinding them up. Where were these two's sense of sportmanship and goading? Pyro could already imagine the conversation:
"Where did you get those antlers?"
"Some buck who thought he could buck with us. His antlers' hang as a testament to the natural order of predator and prey staying in tact."
"But why mounted above your sleeping place?"
"A nightly call for good hunting."
Yes, yes that would do nicely. Pyro actually smiled at this thought and puffed out his chest some, ignoring the obvious detail that without Jay's help the two of them might not have had any antlers to claim anyways. Albeit, the man had did some harm as much as he had done good, so it was more a balancing than anything else.
-
That very notion of it being simply as a state of decoration had rung through his mind. Perhaps a sense of diplomacy would be a good idea at this moment, as he did wish to part with a dragon's egg in hand. But still, the thought of them going to waste irked him. He didn't let this show on his features however as his hands returned to his belt. "Well... it would seem my way would provide a fair use to them... He paused for a moment as an idea crashed in his mind. He turned his golden hues up towards the bright sky. This was the opportune time to barter, haggle, compromise for a way for him to get a positive outcome from this entire situation."..but as a gesture of good faith I shall give to you."
When his gaze dropped back down to earth, they were crimson, his Choku Tomoe Sharingan reactivated. He lifted his left hand and released the head of Cervis from it's pocket prison, his grasp once again holding onto one of the many antlers. "I do though have a proposition for you, the both of you, if willing. I wish to prove myself worthy in an ordeal." He turned his gaze towards the leaking head of the deceased buck and sent a sliver of his chakra into the blood to grab control over it. At that moment, the blood seemed to stop dropping onto the ground and suspend itself in the air as if a magnetic force was keeping it from the ground.
He used the following silence to work, willing the blood to return itself into the head of the buck. For a moment, nothing visibly happened, until more blood began to gush down from the head, the remainder of the blood actually. The blood formed a ball the size of a watermelon and the Nara slipped a finger into the ball and sealed it up in said finger. After he did that he slipped his hand in the head and used the same finger to seal the brain when it reached it.
When he was finished, he set the head down in the puddle of blood and mud and returned his attention towards the dragons. "That might be the only way I can get a dragon companion of my own." Something had been tugging at the back of his mind about the female dragon. Something that was at the very tip of his tongue, that just seemed a bit further from reach than he liked.
-
Pyro was quite confused. Yes, he saw that the man had sealed off the blood and such of the deer, but what exactly did he mean? He seemed to go off on a tangent, from proving himself worthy of an ordeal to talking about having a dragon companion. The connection seemed lost to him, and perhaps in impatience he flared out his wings and levelled his head.
"Enough gidderish and ribbles, are you giving us the antlers or not?"
Rita was not dense, but she too was somewhat confused as to the angle that Jay was coming at. He said that he would give the antlers as a gesture of good faith, but he also claimed to have a proposition. Without stating said proposition, it seemed he either was not wholly confident that he would get it, or wanted to see their reaction to the head.
That finger sealing ability probably would have came in handy much earlier against the wooden constructs, but perhaps there were limits to its usage? Rita would not press; what was important was the antlers.
-
The crimson eyes of his Choku Tomoe Sharingan glanced over towards Pyro with a hint of annoyance in his own gaze. Bright white chakra seeped out of him in waves, said chakra pulsed half a dozen times before a small whirlwind surrounded the Cervis' head and lifted it from the ground. This didn't last long before he launched the head at the snout of the dragon, lashing out in a short lapse of his patience. Of course he knew as much as to make sure it was severed neck first. An attack now would be dishonorable to him and his cause. "I've already agreed to give you the antlers... The wind calmed down at this point, but the crimson in his eyes brightened as he turned his gaze towards Rita.
Judging by her silence she may have had an inkling as to what he saying. He smiled softly as he turned his gaze towards where he knew the cave resided. "As straight as I can be, I came here for a dragon. There was to be no more ribbles, as Pyro had stated so. He had made his choice to give out his identify as what not. now that he had thought about it, another dragon suddenly appearing in the lands and one disappearing from their nest would have clearly warranted a visit from her and Eric.
Of course it made sense now. He'd heard of a dragon named Rita and her companion Eric Nara from his sensei Athos. He knew not of any personal history between the two men other than the Nara teaching the Raikon shadow manipulation. It could be bad or good, until he knew more, he would refrain from mentioning anything about either relationship to the man's dragon. Even so, he was surprised to know of the second dragon and that they had been breeding. It all came as a surprise, including the information that led him into the forest in the first place. "I'm glad the buck was so hellbent on attacking the way it had. Things could've turned out differently." Speaking of which, the way he had been treating the head was a tad disrespectful.
He turned his attention back towards Rita, his fingers slipping into his raven locks. "This ordeal I'm speaking of is a fight to prove I'm worthy in caring for a dragon." It was obvious that he went all in with the request. In his mind, this would permanently bind them into a family/ally mixture between him, the dragons and Eric, him and Eric already sharing blood from the Nara bloodline, no matter how deluded his was. Plus, he already knew there was some sort of test and they wouldn't simply agree.
-
As if having flashback to Rares, Rita seemed to tense and steel her mind in preparation for defense against genjustu, a slight build-up of chakra evident to the skilled sensor. Had come for a dragon? CARING for a dragon?
Was he seriously asking if she would part with even one piece of her treasure this relatively easily? Rita would have laughed had it not been clear that the man was quite serious. She steeled her gaze and stared Jay dead in the eye.
"It would seem that you are very confused, a dragon of Pyro's age hardly needs caring for at all unless you keep him close by at all times; and I don't intend on giving a red eyed Uchiha a young slave, especially not of my brood."
Harsh judgement perhaps, but Rita had noticed the glance towards the cave and the accursed eyes that looked that way, however subtle it may have been; he knew that they were there, but at this stage he didn't seem excessively forceful. For that reason she would not press for an attack of the physical kind.
"I challenge you to disprove my claim that that is all you really want out of this: a slave to order about like a tailed beast."
Pyro of course caught the intended morsel betwixt his jaws, antlers to the sides of his mouth of course, an audible crunch signalling the forceful bite that had been necessarily to guard his snout. Pyro looked towards Rita as she spoke, and then back to Jay. He dropped the antlered head to his feet and, at the end of Rita's commentary, added derisively,
"Some Nara, tossing about deer parts like they're raccoons, running around in cackling chakra armor and not once utilizing shadow imitation. Tsk tsk tsk."
The last part was added as a sort of tease, a sort of remembrance of Jay's earlier teasing about hunters keeping their game; a shame that the man had went through all of these efforts for a dragon.
-
Slave was such a harsh term, something he never believed in. To even insinuate of that being his intentions were unforgivable in of itself. He would indeed remember it and hope that it wouldn't dwell within his heart. For now, he would try to push the word to the back of his mind, banishing it was impossible at this point. Pyro's taunting would be ignored as well, as only focusing on it wouldn't help his case in the slightest.
Occupying his attention with the rest of her words were more than necessary as his hand reached up to cover his right ear, as if attempting to hush the echoes of his inner mind. "She's not wrong you know. What is a beast, if not a tool for the humans. Just like the humans are tools for the Gods. Do what you want young Nara and TAKE IT! Destroy these dragons and take their hatchlings." The words of the God echoed in the man's mind, accompanied by an inner surge of blackened chakra. Jay fought the deity for a moment, before exerting his free will back into his being. 'S-stop interfering... we agreed that I would do it my way.' The voice remained quiet after this inner battle. A peaceful solution would be the only way to keep things from blowing up in his face.
On the outside, it would only appear as if the man was staring sternly at Rita, through the dragon as his crimson eyes seemed a bit glazed. Though this would only last for two minutes, as light returned to the man's hues and he cleared his throat. "...is that how you see yourself?" He spoke softly as he continued to stare at her with the softer look on his face.
-
"Far from it. I come and go as I please, I am not under the constant chains of genjutsu or fuinjutsu, and I by and large do as I want. Do you see a master tugging at my tail?"
The shift in chakra had put Rita on guard, but it did not manifest itself into an attack, so she did not lash out. It was strange, that Jay would consider that as his response. Perhaps he thought that one of her own personal experiences had brought her to this?
Well no, Rares had been Eric's teacher, somewhat, and her staredown with him had left a mark. But her companion had not called on her for some time, not even for a fair chat, which did leave her wondering at this moment what he was up to.
Pyro did not entirely have the same sentiments, as he had had a somewhat different experience, but he kept his mind focused on the obvious, in that the man was trying to fish for something to use to get Rita to agree. He would have to do far better than that if he intended on going with that approach.
-
The phrase, 'Slow and steady, wins the race' appeared in his mind for some apparent reason. He ignored the phrase and raised his attention to the clouds above. Her admittance to not being chained down, unbound by some external manner, to better enjoy her freedom should have been more than reason enough to prove that it was possible for one to have a dragon without these means. But, it was a mystery as to how the elder Nara had managed this feat.
Even so, he had been expecting this sort of resistance and knew from parental experience how protective one can get to their offspring. If someone had tried to take one of his children, he'd rip their heart out and wear their entrails as sweatpants. But he wouldn't mention his own children as they wouldn't help his case at the moment. He groaned softly as he crossed his arms again, his eyes falling back onto the female dragon. He had dug himself into a hole, and no extent of Earth Release could get him out of it. "In that case, it shouldn't be too farfetched to defend that it is possible for me to have a young hatchling as a companion. And back to your tailed beast comment... I have witnessed containers becoming friends with their tailed beast. "
His eyes swung around towards Pyro, for only a moment before looking back towards Rita. From a beastly standpoint, she could easily argue that it was only to gain their power more easily, which, in essence, was true. "A friendship, relationship, and even a partnership is all about give and take. Of course, I want the power of a dragon, who doesn't? They're all badasses. But, I also need it's protection, not just for me, but for those I care about." In his mind, it was alright to be greedy, if it was for the right reasons. His arms loosened and his hands returned to his pockets, and the crimson in his eyes faded away, bringing the golden color back.
It was obvious to him that the Sharingan was hurting his chances, her mention of Genjutsu. Even if he tried such a thing, Rita was prepared for it, and Pyro seemed a bit out of the loop, if you will. Plus, killing them would only cause Eric to get on his case, someone who was even better at manipulating shadows than Athos, who he was barely on par with(He liked to think so at this point). "I don't want a conflict to ensue between us. Despite how things seem, I want us to be allies, if only for the sake of building a foundation of trust and understanding. Boooooo!" Still though, he wanted to prove to her that he'd be able to protect the young dragon until it matured and could protect itself. How did she and Eric meet? What would it take to convince her? How is he gonna get this egg without conflict? So many questions raided his mind. How long have they been talking? The egg was still unguarded, unless there was a third dragon he didn't know about. Though he knew this was only because Pyro didn't want to leave Rita alone with him, and Rita didn't want to lead him to her egg with the way he's been talking. On some wavelength, he knew they were aware of this.
-
The deactivation of the sharingan caused Rita to sigh, releasing some of her physical tension (but not mental preparedness).
"It is not the jinchurikii who are the most disagreeable, but I would like to consider my companion the exception rather than the rule. He is no Uchiha, and to be frank, a third of the time I tell HIM what to do. We met when we were both relatively young, and bonded over a lifetime. Needless to be said you seem a bit old to go that route."
Rita chuckled, reminiscing for only a moment before the amount of idle time had begun to bear down on her mind. They had been talking here for at least a good ten minutes, if not more; she could see that Pyro had not brought any of the clutch with him, so what condition had he left them in? Using her sensory she knew that nothing right now wandered about the cave, but she was in no condition to make the several kilometer trek in a hurry if push came to shove.
"You don't seem like the type that requires extra protection. Pyro, what is the current state of the nest?"
Though rather surprised by the forwardness, Pyro promptly responded,"They should be fine, too far in the cavern for some random passerbier to snatch them. You are not seriously considering this guy's proposal are you?"
"I am thinking about it. Come, we should get back to the cave; I would feel better about this whole thing if we were in much closer proximity."
Of course due to her injuries Rita was not exactly going to be flying back, so she started walking, expecting the other two to follow or, in Pyro's case, lead the way.
Pyro hesitated, picked up the antler's head in his jaws, and with a slightly audible huff, flapped at his wings and began to gain air, lifting himself off in order to ensure that he would be the first back to the cavern while at the same time keeping visual on Rita.
-
A seed of contemplation had been sown in her mind, from what she told the male dragon. But as he looked at her, he knew something was still bugging her about him. A big part of it must have been his ties with the Uchiha bloodline. It made sense, a lot of people had animosity towards the eyes of the Sharingan, even more so towards a higher level of them. But, he couldn't be tied to the hate because he was born the way he was. Perhaps he could become the exception, rather than the rule to this as well. Sort of a, two birds one stone type of thing. "I don't consider myself an Uchiha. Even though I have more than enough of the clan's blood flowing through my veins, I was raised by my Nara grandfather..." 'Even though he chose a life of piracy before meeting grams... and she chose a life of a bandit before meeting gramps...'
Thinking of his grandparents made him replay her words. They made it seem as if they were each other's mentor and protector, like his gramps was solely to him. A lifetime seemed a stretch though... unless Eric was in his sixties, which would explain it. Though shinobi didn't have that long of a lifespan considering the line of work. Only the lucky could grow so old. This didn't stop him from thinking that he was still a child in the eyes of the former generation. Tentatively, he began to follow, glancing towards the male as he took to the skies. Speaking of which, he hadn't cleared all the clouds in the sky and in another quarter kilometer, they would be walking into the rains again. He didn't know how powerful the male dragon was to effect such a large area with his scorch release, but it was only a reminder to look out and remain cautious of him and users of it.
He looked towards the grounded dragon and looked at her in concern. She was injured because he meddled in her fight, even if it was unintentionally his fault, he was glad he had gotten involved. But still, unnecessary pain was something he didn't want her to feel. "How are the injuries? Is there something I can do to help?" He didn't know a lot of medical techniques, just the Shosen and Scalpel techniques. They seemed to be key elements in fixing something so he felt it was a priority. Looking back on it now, it seems a shortcut was not the right choice concerning this specific topic. He would have to fix that when the next opportunity presented itself to him.
-
Very little gave more satisfaction to Pyro than to take the carcass off the ground; at his height the rain would be accompanied by an unblocked wind, a mere nuisance for a dragon of his strength and condition. Indeed, the thought of rain and possible flooding had long slipped Pyro's mind until this point, to which end he rushed on ahead to the cavern. Once there he would dropped the head and swiftly moved to the nest. Though the dull clutch remained mostly undisturbed, parts of the nest had begun to get wet from the slowly rising waters; Pyro curled about the eggs and breathed fire in the general vicinity, both lighting up the cave and drying parts of it with his fire.
Though somewhat perturbed by Pyro's decision to rush on ahead, Rita did not complain. Walking on the ground instead of flying was, for a Wind Dragon, a bit of an inconvenience. Still, Rita remained in thought as the rain ran about her body, but at Jay's suggestion she came to a stop.
She could heal herself, but she had not wanted to leave herself vulnerable to attack in the process; what with Jay being here that was not much of a concern now, and in truth, it seemed fairy pertinent that she get on it. She estimated that the stiffness in her limbs may have been a sprain or two, the now dull ache accompanied by occasionally sharp spikes a suggestion she might have had a damage if not broken rib, and she had likely suffered some level of a concussion from the explosion.
Had to be the concussive talking when Rita conceded, "In truth, this rain cooling at my body is not doing my bones any favors, and I may very well have a concussion. Let's stop moving." As declared Rita would stop some distancing, bringing her wings in closer to her body as the rain began to make a nuisance of itself.
"What do you know in terms of healing techniques? If you're going to half-kill your dragon companion you should at the least be able to heal him or her afterwards for alll the trouble."
-
He shrugged his shoulders in uncertainty. He knew nothing of a dragon's anatomy and only asked out of a courtesy, though now he was more than curious. He and his eldest brother, wherever he may be, knew just about everything about the anatomy of every single animal because of the bloodline they now share. Hiki Toucho is incredible and just maybe, now seeing as how mythical animals could just simply be labeled as extremely rare but all the more real, he could find out. "I don't know much, but finding out might prove more simple than finding out the hard way."
Though he said this, his posture and demeanor didn't change as he stopped his movements to mirror her own. He didn't know what she meant, but if he was correct the dragon infant might indeed get out of control at some point. That made a bit of sense, instincts are hard to fight no matter the age. He pulled his hands from his once again drenched pockets and gathered his wet hair in a low ponytail fashion and tied it together with a tight ring of ice. "I'm a quick learner, so as long as you don't try to eat me... 'Like Charybdis tried to.' Then I should be able to peer inside you and mentally document your... everything really." Thinking back to the mystical creature in the depths of Uzushio's waters made him wonder if it was behaving back at home.
He had kind of forgotten about that particular bloodline ability, it could have given him more of an understanding towards Cervis. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about this and gritted his teeth. Sometimes, he hates himself for things like that. With a few claps to his wet cheeks, his chakra surged to his eyes once more, this time instead of glowing crimson, they lightened considerably. They lost the dark shades that made up the golden color and turned pure yellow, a bright yellow the same color as a healthy banana.
Once his Hiki Toucho had activated, the dragon ahead of him went through changes from his point of view. Several degrees of X-ray vision ensued as he noted the damage the shrapnel did to her muscle tissue and the other systems that made up her body. "I should be drawing what I'm seeing in my brother's encyclopedia, but I dare not bring it out in this rain. I just hope I remember everything when I get home. Are all dragons the same, or are they all unique?" If this was true than it'd be hard to get a definite idea, but her child wouldn't be all that different from her and Pyro, it'd be too weird if it was so.
-
"What do you mean finding out?" Rita sounded concerned, as the meaning of "finding out might prove more simple than finding out the hard way" was somewhat ambigious, especially now that the man was watching her with a new set of eyes. Granted, Rita had been watched by the byakugan before, anyone living in Konoha had at some point, but it had been some time since she had really been examined by one or a dojutsu with similar X-ray vision; if an animal that wore no clothes could feel naked, Rita certainly felt uncomfortably nude at this point.
"Dragons come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but there are 'types' if you will. Long, serpentine ones, bulky lizard like ones, some that look more like dinosaurs than reptiles. Once you've seen one type though you have an idea on what the rest of that type look like."
With the eggs secured from the elements, Pyro would now turn his attention back to the Head. Rita wanted the antlers, that was fine, but the objective of food was still presesnt. Tearing the antlers from the head seemed llike an easy task; clasp antler one with jaws, place foot on head, and pull. Such things normally worked, Pyro's incredible strength more than enough to shatter the skull if he really wanted to.
Not surprisingly, with the head having been hollowed out by Jay's actions, that is exactly what occured when Pyro attempted this maneuver. The antlers stayed in place, the foot support cracked and gave way, and then the somewhat slippery head caused Pyro to fall to the side, snapping off half of antler one with him.
Spitting out antler number 1'ss first half, Pyro narrowed his eyes at the deformed Head, that now resembled a horribly disfigured deer after a bad accident (if he were still alive no doubt this would be an appropriate metaphor in the literal sense). Oozing out of the broken portion of the stem, however, was a strange white substance that tasted of chakra.
Smacking his lips in wonder, Pyro realized what he just concluded to be strange; he was not the kind of dragon to absorb chakra, so the only way he would know the taste of chakra was either by suggestion or from the taste or smell from a jutsu. Fearing that he had been poisoned, Pyro rapidly called up the contents of his stomach, regurgitating a corrosive substance onto the ground. The taste went away, but the vomit, which normally would steam a little, now violently seemed to go through the rock floor of the cavern.
Pyro could only watch in alarm, and wonder, as the vomit kept going, even going through the dirt with a ferocious speed. Pyro took a few steps back as the antler injury stopped oozing, and looked at the other antler in alarm. It was decided at that moment that he would wait for Rita to show before going after the next one; something was very wrong with this deer, and perhaps the origins of its earlier power literally rested in its antlers.
-
The Nara remained quiet for the time being, choosing only to memorize the structure of the dragon in front of him. He listened to what she was saying about the different types of dragons, but he wouldn't have to worry too much on the other kinds at the moment. Learning what he knew about her specific kind was all he needed to do at the moment to keep her child from dying because he didn't know what connected to what.
He found the pitter patter of the falling rain soothing and his relaxed demeanor only portrayed this. Though he wouldn't remain so for long as the golden shade returned to his orbs, signifying the completion of his diagnostics scan of her. "You took a rather sporadic amount of damage from blunt force... The trench back there was obviously you being shot out of the sky. Cervis had a trick up his sleeve to counter my explosion, no wonder it wasn't as deep as it should have been."
The Nara lifted a hand and rubbed his chin as he took a few steps towards the dragon, thinking about her comment of the water not helping her bones. They didn't appear to be broken... but hairline fractures could have been possible from the explosive force she suffered. Of course the water wasn't actually touching her bones, but her scales could have been damaged to the point of providing a way. A technique idea came to mind, as they always did, and he filed it away for later.
"Is there a special healing technique dragons can use to heal themselves. If I'm to base a technique capable of healing a dragon completely, it'd be best to learn it from a dragon. Human techniques might not be as useful in that regard." Still natural plants would still be useful, no matter the species. That's what he thought at least.
-
Well of course dragon sages had methods of healing themselves and others entirely, but if Rita were to just perform that technique, that would defeat the purpose of the entire conversation, nay, the whole exercise of walking back to the cave instead of patching herself up and flying. Not to mention none of her hatchlings were exactly going to hatch as dragon sages.
Not wanting this to show in her body language, Rita merely drooped somewhat, her wings touching the ground and her head slightly looking down (albeit to jay it might would look as if she were looking directly at his feet). After a few moments she would raise back to look Jay in the eye, still ever prepared for funny business.
"You are overcomplicating this healing procedure, the mystical palm technique, or any other technique for healing humans, albeit applied carefully, would be sufficient for these kind of injuries."
Some of the stiffness would attempt to take permanent root what with the rain cooling the area around her, and in response Rita would start walking again. She could sense Pyro's distress, but more importantly, she could sense the strange energy still radiating from the head. This was not something to eat, but rather, something that needed to be taken back home home, to her father.
"Dragons have a natural healing rate that is greater than the average human, so the mystical palm technique does not need to be applied as fiercely nor for as long; unless the injury is grievous no more than a minute should be given to any injury regardless of its type. Practice here on one of my limbs."
She stopped walking and outstretched one of her forward legs (assuming Jay walked as well and would thus still be in front or to the side). Why not just go straight to her bothersome rib area? Rita was not stupid, she had learned the mystical palm technique well enough to know that when dealing with medics (and pseudo-medics) of varying degrees of skill, it was always better to be safe than sorry. The Leaf practiced on fish for a reason, after all, and Rita was unsure of just how skilled Jay was in any healing technique of any sort. Should he overdo it, injuring one of her limbs was preferable to injuring her vitals.
-
Sometimes, overcomplicating something called for a deeper understanding of it. But it was no longer necessary as she gave the answer he needed. Knowing that the Mystical Palm was a good technique to use on her sentient species he approached her leg. "Sorry, this'll only take a moment."
He pressed his hands against her leg, admiring the feeling of her scales. His hands began to hum with white chakra, the white simply being the color of his chakra. His eyes closed, but his senses were wired on a hair trigger, the qualities of a combat medic. Any quick movements anywhere around him and he'd know about it. He took a deep breath as his chakra turned into the medicinal qualities of the Mystical Palm. Normally this would be used on himself, or when his kids fell at the park, not really having teammates to use it on.
So imagining the dragon was one of his children would focus his mind even more to find the amount of chakra necessary to provide the healing the leg under his hands needed. His chakra was sent out and the mending began. The tissues began repairing themselves and the stiffness loosened up before feeling like new, or at least to how it was feeling before her fight.
-
Rita tensed, but released the tension when it became apparent that Jay would not be numbing her entire limb. This, for the time being, would do, as upon this healing being done she would begin flowing regenerative chakra through her body, her scales visibly glowing with the energy of the dragon reincarnation technique's restorative nature.
As if by magic the senjutsu would return her body back to normal. During this time she would noticeably be in some sort of peace, her extrasensory temporarily shut down for the sole purpose of diverting her energies towards restoration. As a result, if Jay were to stalk off Rita would be probably not notice, and certainly did not notice when a shadow came over the duo.
Having either grown impatient or restless one, Pyro had arrived at the scene, using the now warmed deer head as a makeshift basket for the clutch of eggs. His arrival to see Rita glowing would somewhat confuse him, as he had not seen this particular technique before, and prompt him to lower to the ground next to her. Regardless of whether Jay moved to keep from being swept up from the wind or not Pyro's wings would go from flapping to closed just before his feet touched the ground.
He would set the cerebral nest next to Rita, the gentle gleam of the milky white eggs barely visible from the head's bottom (that was now its top). One of the missing antlers would cause the head to sit rather unevenly on the other antler, so Pyro propped it with his foot, using his scorch release chakra to gently warm the head and as a subtle remoinder for Jay not to make any sudden moves towards the clutch.
"Rita, there is something off about this deer's antlers. Damn near poisoned me earlier when I was going for the antlers. I left the other one intact, since it seems that the vile substance is relegated to the antlers and not to the rest of the head. What do you think of it?"
Rita's scales would stop glowing after minute or so. Rita would breath deeply, only catching the last part of Pyro's revelation.
"Think of what?"
*Sorry for the really long posting time this time, got really busy. For real this time, I'm wrapping up (just went ahead and patched Rita up) we probably only have 1-3 rounds left in this RP. Again, apologies for taking so long.
-
That's alright, I'm not worrying about the time. Just as long as it's not completely abandoned, which I wouldn't allow.
Jay noticed the light Rita's scales seemed to be emitting along with the sensational presence of Nature Energy flowing into her. He remained quiet as he watched over her, keeping the peace until he looked up towards the signature of Pyro moments before the shadow cast over them. He watched the dragon for a moment as the winds picked up around him as he landed.
He cast his gaze back to Rita's leg, as if checking on the status of her leg before cutting off his flow of chakra and removing his hands from the drenched scales. She should be feeling much better now, even though she did most of the work, he had helped her heal. His hands slipped into his pockets as he looked back towards Pyro, only now noticing the clutch of eggs in the deer's head. "Poison antlers?" He muttered softly as he looked closer at the head, noticing the broken antler partially behind the dragon's foot.
Though he couldn't see the ooze that the dragon was referring to, he could sense of bit of chakra lingering around the area. He tilted his head a bit in thought, what could it be? The buck was more unique then he even realized.
-
Pyro knitted a place roughly above his eyes. For those with eyebrows this is where said hair pieces would be brought together. For once, Pyro decided to address Jay directly.
"It's poisonous, but I don't think that was the use of the stuff."
Rita, having finished healing at this point, seemed to stare at the deer as she digested the information that she just heard.
"We will worry more about that later. Right now, it is time to part with a piece of my treasure."
Gingerly, carefully, and meticulously, Rita reached her shadow into the deer head basket, wrapped it about one of the tanish colored eggs, and presented it to Jay. The egg was roughly the size of a man's head, a testament to the size of the beast that laid it and a testament to the size of the deer head. The total number of eggs remained unclear, but seeing the size of one Jay could probably make a guesstimate of between 3-4 total.
"Dragon eggs slightly grow in size after being lain; I am entrusting you with one of my children. Raise him or her in the jutsu and ways of your people, and when he or she is ready, they will find their way to the Homeland. If you are deemed successful in this endeavor, then you will be rewarded with a place on the dragon summoning scroll."
Or rather,a version; the absolute original's division had been split as there were specialty contracts that different races of dragons sometimes made. The General Contract covered them all, and on its own had a story that would take some hours to fully explain to Jay. This was unecessary, at least at this time, so Rita merely left it at dragon summoning scroll.
-
Surprise was printed on the Nara's expression at Pyro, seeing as he answered him in a seemingly friendly manner. Maybe he was rubbing off on the big ol dragon. He knew Pyro was a big ol softy inside. Before he could mentally tease the male dragon any further, his knowing grin turned towards Rita as she spoke.
His golden hues followed her shadow as he picked up a huge egg from the makeshift nest of Cervis' head. He refrained from commenting on the size, finding it just a tad smaller than he had imagined. He accepted the egg, respectfully bowing towards the female dragon. "I- I can't even tell you how happy this makes me." He barely contained his happiness, feeling as if he was having another child of his own, which he would half to wait for until it actually hatched.
Speaking of which... "Do I need to do anything special to make it hatch?" Like, ride around on a bicycle checking on it every few minutes to make sure it was getting closer to hatching like some Pokémon. Or some... digital... stuff like it was some sort of Digimon?
-
Rita opened her mouth to speak a moment, but then she closed it again. To anwer this question, she really had to think a moment.
Stepping in for his more domestic partner, Pyro would explain:
"Wind dragons would need high elevations, consistent heat, and wind release chakra to stimulate hatching. Desert, scorch release dragons like myself moreso need that chakra nature, water, and mud. The eggs are about as large as they are going to get; since the eggs can remain dormant for months if not years depending on the species, you will notice that in optimal condition the eggs will begin to soften and turn a very noticeable color; that color will match the scales of the newborn dragon.
Dragon eggs will not usually hatch outside of its optimal conditions, so a few weeks more in a warm, dry, and high elevation with the sound of running water audible should hatch it. Have some gently cooked and tenderized meat nearby; the young one will be quite hungry, and if he was anything like Rita supposedly was, he could go wandering off into the forest-"
Rita would slightly blush at Pyro's teasing. It was not her fault that her egg sitters were so slow and lumbering, and the had left so many small places for her to slip through. Granted, she managed to fend for herself in the forest fairly well; even without full dragon breath she had been a rather bold one.
She hoped her children would not pick up that early habit; sure they might meet some wandering Nara in the forest who catches him or her when he or she was supposed to try to catch said individual, but then again, they might run into an Uchiha; and the implications were bad enough just at the thought.
"One last thing, runt. Chakras of similar natures, origins, and blood resonate together, and there needs to be a resonation before a dragon starts to follow you around without the intent on having a part of you for lunch and the rest for breakfast tomorrow. Normally that would take years to build up, but because baby dragons quickly learn where they can find food and secure shelter, their signatures more quickly adapt to the signatures of individuals consistntly at meal times and sleeping. Eat with the dragon every day that you can and, after a few weeks or even if you're brave enough on day five, have the dragon sleep with you. Parents would do this no doubt, but you are of the... fleshier make-up so the dragon might try to have a midnight snack of your arm."
Now why Pyro consistnly returned to a caution about being tasted might would seem a mystery until, realizing that he was bringing up the warning without bringing up the warning, explained this bit as well.
"A dragon loves the taste of things that it consitently eats in its early days. Rita growing up in the Nara world fell in love with deer; Sandworm was much more common in my neck of the world. As long as no traumatic experience accompanies it, then the most frequent three meals tend to be what a dragon like to eat for the rest of his life-"
"Not to interrupt, but why do you keep saying he? It could be a she-"
Pyro rolled his eyes. Even in natural speech it was so much more convenient to just assign a talking gender and call it a day; constantly referring to he or she would be burdensome.
"- Also, female dragons are somewhat different. Our tastes are more centered around chakra retention in the muscles. Deer tended by Nara tend to hold more stored reserves in their muscles and have less fat, making them quite delectable. They taste better raw because you don't lose half the energy from cooking or excessive handling."
"... right. Well, being human, I imagine a dragon might would give you issues in trying to eat you-"
"Only if you don't teach the young dragon to dissociate humans with a food source. Unless humans are even easier than food that you can catch and deliver yourself, a young dragon's first taste of human might be more experimental than predatory. To keep that from being you or any of your smaller compatriots, you need to have some yourself and puke in front of the dragon; the young dragon will quickly come to believe, at least for the time being, that human is poisonous. They might try it anyways at a later date, but it's all about not making it an appealing option.
As Pyro said, if they eat it more frequently than other things then you will have a village predator problem, and since human ninjas can have fairly large chakra reserves, avoid letting that become a meal. She'll fall in love with it though she can't have it nearly as often as diet requires. That goes for ninja beasts too.
One more very important village dragon forewarning. Once a dragon starts becoming old enough to mold chakra, she may want to go about playing with the chakra natures available to her; scorch release obviously is very hot and thus very hazardous to buildings and organic life alike. She might even play some tricks on individuals with Yin release or alter her size with yang release; the overall experience is likely best experienced outside of the village setting. Teaching her early some of your specialty techniques can be a very rewarding-"
"Now YOUR doing it."
"Doing what?"
"Calling the unborn hatcling a she when she could be a he."
Rita blinked.
Pyro cackled.
"Opposites attract, but sames stick together. I hope you got all that; there is much more that you'll find out when the dragon hatches. Every hatchling is a little different."
A pause would follow before Rita would frown somewhat. It was not an angry sort of frown, nor a terribly distressed one; it was melancholic. Sheltering her eggs from the pilfering insects of Iwagakure, the likes of Cervis, mother nature, and of course from the occasional ninja wanderer, and here she was parting with one. A few tears welled in her eyes at the thought.
-
It was like the man was hit by just a taste of an encyclopedia of dragons. Sure, the thing about not getting them hooked on human at an early age was a given, but there was a world of things that he hadn't even considered when he first thought about this desire. Fortunately, it wasn't hard for him to make mental notes of the conditions for their hybrid youngling. The environment would be easily adjustable for him, he could even farm and raise cattle solely for the dragon. He didn't have any doubt that he could go out and hunt when he needed to, he's done it before.
Wandering. That could pose a problem when the dragon gets to that age. In a controlled environment, sure that would be alright and quite better instead of it being tethered to a certain area. His kids, oh boy, like to walk everywhere. Thankfully, unlike Rita's old sitters, he was overly protective of them, and still is, and always will be. He wasn't sure if the good ol paper test would work on the dragon. Honestly, he'd forgotten the reactions of certain elements, but some quick research would nip that in the bud.
Back to the ol, human eatery topic, he knew he would be able to stop a young dragon from eating him, but protecting his children? Raising the dragon elsewhere would have to happen, while of course still raising his human children. He had the Hiraishin marker on them, and has since their birth, so it wasn't like he couldn't rush to their side if need be. But that possibility was a no-no. Kirara would have to continue watching them when he couldn't. But once it was drilled into the dragon's mind that eating humans were bad, he could bring them together, get it familiar with his children.
All in all, as he looked at the precious egg, it was a lot to take in and a huge load of responsibilities even more so than raising a child. Speaking of which, if he wanted to prevent any of his own from becoming something he didn't approve of he would have to tread carefully in training them, cause simply raising them wouldn't be enough.
Of course, he wasn't sure what the gender would be, but it was obvious what they wanted it to be, something that brought a smile to his face. It reminded him of his deceased marriage, those were the good days. "I'll make sure to train your child proudly, so that when he...He would look towards Pyro as he said this. or she... His gaze would turn towards Rita, the large smile would growing even more so, before once again speaking to the both of them equally. makes their journey to your Homeland, they'll exhibit qualities that would make you proud... enough to raise another dragon." He smiled brightly with an innocent expression that showed that he was both joking in the moment to cheer Rita up, but also show that he was confident that they'll be proud of the both of them. Plus another dragon would be cool, just saying xD
"But seriously, I'll take care of your young and protect them with my life. And protect myself from not getting eaten as well." He gave them a serious look, to show that he was in fact not taking this likely. Preventing the young dragon from going on village wide hunts for human flesh was dangerous because of the presence of chakra, but making sure that it could protect itself from chakra wielding individuals was crucial as well. Quite a conundrum, but thank goodness the dragon would be able to communicate... eventually. He wasn't sure how long that'd take, but it'd be worth the wait.
-
A few tears rolled down Rita's face, and while normally she might would wipe them away, given the circumstances, she let them be.
"You mean protect yourself from getting eaten? If you protect yourself from NOT getting eaten then you might as well feed yourself to Pyro now and save our hatchling the chewing."
Rita laughed. Pyro snickered.
"Take good care of him-" Pyro cast a glance towards Rita. "- Or her. We should get going; that deer herd is not going to eat itself."
-
He went back through his words, catching what he said. "Oh, right." He laughed along with them, looking up towards the sky, noting the rain was finally letting up, as if signaling that they too were parting ways.
He understood Rita's emotions and refrained from what he was thinking because he had the egg in his arms. Instead, his shadow pulsed to life from the reappearance of the sun above. It grew darker, distinguishing itself from the surrounding mud and lifted from the ground as it approached Rita at it's casual pace. It split apart, forming two human-like arms, that were just long enough to show that it was going in for a hug. It wouldn't be a good show of faith to sit the egg down to hug a dragon, and kissing her forehead would be a bad move with Pyro like... right there. So a friendly shadow hug would have to do.
If allowed to it's full ten seconds. He would retract his shadow and will two large raven wings to burst from his back, blackened feathers flittering free and falling with the breeze in a show of dramatic flair. "I'll try not to get eaten. I'll see you again, just to show you that I'm still alive and kicking." He grinned as he gave the egg a kiss, his wings casually flapping behind him. Using just a bit of wind chakra under his wings, he began to ascend with controlled beats of his wings.
-
Pyro outstretched his wings and licked his lips.
"Haven't had me some Raven in a long time."
The large dragon would chortle before offering the deer head back to Rita.
"I'll go get dinner; you rest up, you've had quite the day."
Rita accepted, taking the head with her talons before lifting off into the air.
And so the dragons would go their way and Jay his; to meet again, perhaps, or perhaps to never see each other again. The exchange, however, would undoubtly change their lives, if not for the better, then for the worse, and if not for either of those, then the change would be neither good nor bad.
Once upon a time a young man and a dragon met in a forest and became friends. Now, a young man and took dragons have met in a forest, with a young dragon gifted into the care of said young man.
Certainly not a cyclic history is it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
"No eating!" He exclaimed before flying away with the egg in tow. Off to raise him/her, unsure of the series of events he would be presented with.
That was beautiful XD
LET THY TOPIC BE LOCKED!!!