Four Featherless Bipeds (Saya)

With team puppet finally back together after the girls spent an inordinately long time in the changing room, and with new clothes and mostly dry bodies, Saya was feeling much better. She glanced at the puppet at the--wait a minute. Taking mental inventory she counted the bodies in the room. Kiku, check. Ai. Check. Pinochio, check. Missing space where the coach puppet had once stood....????? Well that was new. 

"Where is Coach?" An interesting thing happened. While they both gave a different inflection, Saya's being a slow confusion while Ai's was more general pointed question, both girls spoke at the exact same time. This was a trick she'd figured out, but had yet to show Kiku for reasons that we the audience understand to deal with the way a timeline works. But forget about all that. The timeline is a thing of mystery and addressing it's existence could threaten the entire ninja world by breaking the fabled fourth wall. 

"Ita came by. Picked up Coach. Said she'd send him back. Honestly Tria you control him you should know this. You were actively part of the convorsation technically. " Saya thought for a moment before simply shrugging and moving on to answer her new friend's question. 

"Uh. Dunno. I'm really kinda down for anything. We can do training stuff or we can veg. I brought a suit if we wanna like swim or hit the spa but like theres so much other stuff we could do too like work on jutsu or spar or really anything! there are so many options I couldn't possibly choose." 

(TWC 263)

At the suggestion of a spar Saya's eyes lit up, and then glazed over for a moment. She had a sudden memory of the outskirts of the village. Of the girl walking up to see her show, of a threat assessed before it had the chance to cause her pain. She could still remember the spray of blood as her sister's jutsu removed portions of the girl's body. How the limbs sat lifeless against the sand. 

"Aya. Come back to us. It's over. You're safe." Once again Ai placed a hand protectively on her sister's shoulder, shaking lightly to pull the girl from her thoughts. She shook her head, a hint of fear draining from her face as she forced the memories from her mind. 

"Sorry. Yea. We can spar. I need to practice my combat anyway I think. Gotta get stronger so I can protect people and stuff." The assault on herself and Daiko had confirmed two things. First, she knew now that when the time came to do what needed to be done her team would take care of the problem. Second she affirmed that allowing herself to give in to hatred and actively seek to end the life of another was never going to be something that set well with her. People who would be so careless as to take from someone the gift so precious did not deserve to be around her. Maybe they didn't deserve to be in this world. 

"Is there a combatant you'd like to face specifically Kiku? any one of us could be your sparring partner, or all three. Really any combination. While it is an integral part of Saya's combat style, I believe it would be unfair at current for all of us to challenge you at the same time however. " Pinochio stepped in seamlessly, trying his best to take the focus off the girl and give her time to collect herself. 

(TWC 584)

The stressor had come and passed. There would be time to consider the weight of the actions she'd been forced to do at some point, but for now that trauma would be passed exactly to where it belonged....Ai. Regaining her focus she looked at the girl before her. Bright eyed and cotton candy sweet. She'd not yet realized the danger they were in. She would be a reason to push through this. Those less powerful need protection so they can succeed in finding their true purpose, and protection was exactly what Saya set out to do.

"Yea. There uh. There was a mission with my friend Daiko. It ended pretty badly. The enemy made a move to try and kill me I think. Daiko and Ai stopped her dead in her tracks. Dead being the opperative word. I kind of struggled with it. There was alot of blood. BUT it's okay, cuz sometimes that has to happen. Those who cannot accept the path of peace must be dealt with in some way, and anyone who would make the decision to cause harm to another for no reason other then personal gain needs to be taught that will not be allowed. " The words were powerful, but still felt a bit hollow on her lips. Did she really have the strength to hold up such a promise? Would she ever? Thankfully her thoughts were drawn to the task at hand.

"If I am to be your opponent then so be it. I look forward to the chance to battle you." They would head to one of the sparring rings, and Ai would take a look at the ground beneath her. It was a shame. While she had the ability to create structures with ninjutsu, and could fix it, inevitably their fight would end with the floor of this very nice training arena torn up by Mokuton. The question wasn't would it, but when would it.

(TWC 907)

"yea. Daiko was a real life saver. She moved really fast and honestly I kind of freaked out. I used my skillful artistry with a human body and activated my blood enhancement and just kind of ran. Ai did.... uh. Not that. She kind of ended up chomped in half by foo puppies. Thankfully when the jutsu ended they sunk back into the earth though! It would have taken forever to clean the blood. " She considered the suggestion of souls. Before today she wouldn't have even blinked at the idea that there was some great afterlife, but as she's started spending time with ragnar that question has pressed on her mind more and more. Unfortunately she didn't have quite enough to speak on that convorsation yet.

"Of course I will. While pinochio has done most of the training for Aya so far, I am quite adept I would like to believe, and prove to be a resillient fighter. " As she spoke the two girls formed hand seals in unison, Ai using both hands and Saya with only one. Snake. Ram. Horse. Hare. Snake. Bird. Monkey. Ox. Dragon. From her lips spewed a torrent of water that formed itself in front of her, creating an empty water prison. While generally it was unideal to use this particular jutsu without catching someone inside it she had a plan. As the large orb of water floated before her she clapped her hands, thrusting one arm inside. From the center a shark four meters long and a full meter wide ripped from the suiton bubble. It floated through the air in a great leap aimed directly at the seal SHikuki had placed before her, rows of sharp teeth threatening the seal with a power and speed of 75. She wasn't sure what the seal did, but assumed it to be some sort of counter or defensive measure, and wanted to see if it could withstand a b ranked technique from team puppet.

(TWC 1235)

Idly, Kikuko was reminded of the fact that those who she had met so casually had ended up being ninja of considerable power and prowess. Daiko had been an excellent teacher and mentor for the short time they had been together, teaching her techniques that she couldn’t have fathomed beforehand. Saya had guided her through a situation where she had nearly lost her head, helping her to remain relevant even in a pressing crisis situation. These were her peers, the one whose expectations she needed to live up to. Perhaps they were not the same, what they learned being different and varied. Still, she wouldn’t let that overwhelm her. She would do her best, come hell or high water.

Kikuko would observe the training area around them- a massive 200m arena, having been build at such a grand scale in anticipation of the devastation that could be caused by ninja clashes skills against one another. It would allow both combatants freedom of movement, and relatively less concerned about the structural integrity of the building. The ceiling vaunted high above, stretching to roughly 35m before ending in a glass dome peppered by rain from the outside. It was certainly a sight for the eyes, and a place that called for skills to be tested against one another.

But of course, there was always things to be unprepared for- a shark! How could she have anticipated a shark! There were on land, for the Kami’s sake! Still, she needed to have faith in her own technique. Activating the seal with a burst of chakra, an invisible field would spread in a 20m sphere around her at 90 speed and power, establishing itself as the shark grew ever closer. With a whooshing sound, the watery denizen of the deep would be sucked into the seal upon her left palm, arm outstretched to ‘catch’ the technique. Dissipated into chakra, the only thing left of it would be the memory of its shape and the smell of fresh water. That was close. Now, time for the offense.

Slamming her right palm upon the ground at 50 speed as the shark was being absorbed, dipping into a crouch, she would channel chakra into the ground as a summoning array would spread. A call to friends, allies, companions. “Summoning Jutsu!” She would cry.

In a burst of smoke, the seal would erupt in a flurry of wings- releasing Oscuro, the Common Sootywing about a meter in front of her. A shy little creature, if you ignored the fact that he was absolutely giant compared to the common butterfly, he would flap his wing before fluttering at about 2 meters off the ground. “Kikuko? This isn’t the forest.” He would remark. “I thought you promised me we’d go for a walk next time you called.”

“Sorry, Oscuro. Things got a little complicated.” She would admit, before turning her focus back upon Ai. “These are my friends Saya, Ai, and Pinocchio. Will you help me spar against them?”

“Two of them are puppets-”

“They’re people, Oscuro. Please?”

The butterfly would do its own version of a sigh, before fluttering up to about 3m and dive bombing towards Ai at 80 speed. Fast, for a thing so tiny! If uninterrupted, it would crash directly into her. However, due to having only 5 strength, this probably wouldn’t hurt her much at all.

“Well, the little miss asked and I can’t say no. Sorry, but I’ve got to get in  your hair for a bit!” Oscuro would exclaim.

======

Correction- Seal of Absorptions AP cost was 37. Whoops! Actual AP is [1073/1110]

Activated Seal of Absorption-18AP
Summoned Oscuro - 20AP

Total AP- 1035/1110

[579]
[2047]

With the ten meter distance they'd started the spar in Ai had some time to consider how best to deal with this massive creature. This was not their friend, and that factored into the way the girl would decide to deal with it, however it was clearly an ally of Kiku's. She could answer the dive bomb attack with power, but it was important not to actually kill the summon. That was fine. Unfortunately, she would near immediately have to make the decision to cause property damage for the village hidden in the mist. Shifting backward she'd rock her body weight onto her back leg in a cat stance as the two girls in unison formed the hand seals for Ai's next attack at a speed of 75 and 93 respectively. It wasn't neccessary. Ai's seals were simply for show, but it was nice to allow for the little things.

As the final seal was formed, She set her front foot fully onto the ground, planting her heels firmly into the wooden floor beneath them and crossed her arms. Around her great roots ripped from the ground, surounding Ai in a cocoon of Mokuton. Two more roots five meters thick reached upward, crossing one another as they aimed sharp points at the body of the puppet, each root moving at the same speed as the large butterfly. Three meters from the point when her opponent's charge would hit the cocoon protecting her, the rounds would flatten their tips, attempting to catch the creatures momentum and chuck it back to the summoner after making their ability to remove it's wings evident. AI glanced up at Kiku from within the spiral of vines that protected her without taking away sight. She had a calm smile on her face as she adressed the butterfly's earlier comment.

"Could a puppet do this?" SHe and saya spoke in unison, two distinct voices coming from two different bodies. The Nativity of a world of trees she'd used to protect herself had clearly origionated from the puppet itself, and that should have been enough to make it clear they were not just tools.

She checked her surroundings as large trees sprouted up on four corners just past where a cocoon of roots had made a shield. She had exit points large enough to slip through on several sides, and the bottom to her left had plenty of space to slide or crawl through. This was a jutsu they'd need to use more often.

(TWc 1651)