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 Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 12:10 pm
Iri catches Neko's words before she's out of earshot.
Though it still gives her the creeps, Iri manages to exit the dark cave mouth without emitting any embarrassing noises. She quickly crosses the clearing and re-enters the cover of the trees. As she moves, Iri makes notes of her surroundings. She even makes notes of the quality of the air. How it moves, how it smells, and so on. She keeps doing this until she reaches the sunny brook where she had found Syn. Then she opens her wings and glides across instead of sloshing through the water. She'll be able to find this place again, and even Nekojiri's cave. If he doesn't stay there, she might be able to track him from that place to wherever he moves.
She stops and looks around. Both wings come up and spread out. This shades herself from the harsh sun and keeps it from impeding her vision. "Tier? Shokubutsu?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 12:57 pm
Tier's head spawned out of the shadow that Iri's wings casted.
"We came here to do a mission, capture the "Jii-sama" individual."
This was a shadow clone that was speaking to Iri, the real Tier was still hidden somewhere else. The shadow clone's head looked to the side where Iri had just came from.
"We won't get another chance like this."
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:20 pm
One hand places itself on her hip. The other rests the butt of her naginata in the dirt. She looks back in the direction of the cave.
"Yeah, I know that. Just because I left the cave, that doesn't mean the mission is over. Not necessarily."
She looks down at Tier's clone.
"I'm assuming you managed to spy. Neko looked weak. It looks like he's just trying to lay low for a while. But he's no fool. Being so close to the Academy, he has to know he's in danger of being discovered by Kaimen. So I'm not totally convinced that he's helpless."
Iri gives her head a shake and looks again in the direction of the cave. "I'm nothing compared to Neko at full strength. He would tear me to pieces. If we're going to make an attempt at capturing him, I want at least a semblance of a plan. I have a method of incapacitating all three of them, Neko, Syn, and Luna. It's just a matter of thinning the air in the cave enough to make them pass out. Done correctly, they may not even realize what's happening until it's too late. But when he wakes up, what then? And how will we transport them?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:33 pm
The Tier shadow clone started to pull itself out of Iri's shadow and stood there before replying, "If you can do that then leave the rest to Tier Krahe, kukuku.
Our mission priority is to capture these people. Tier can keep them under control with the shadows of the forest once we leave the cave."
The Tier clone continued to stare at Iri.
"If they start to move, then Tier will have to act. Time isn't on our side."
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:23 pm
Shokubutsu's head broke free from the tree, making a few cracking noises.
"I'll head back and inform Kaimen about this place. I'm not very good here, seeing as how Nekojiri is an Ice adept, and I haven't been 'upgraded' to fight against that yet." He spoke as if he were some sort of machine.
"I'll leave the rest to you two. Don't die."
His whole body slowly began to separate from the tree with leaves swirling about. Soon, his image began to fade in and out until he was gone.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:29 pm
Iri scowls after Shokubutsu's retreating form. "Don't die. Lots of encouragement there."
She looks back at Tier. With her free hand, she gives the strange man the thumbs up. "Alright then. I'll fly up and do my thing from the sky. It's best if I don't get close unless a fight breaks out. Concentration is the key in this technique."
Iri jumps up and pumps her wings. With a salute, she flies off.
For a while, the Tier clone will be able to track Iri's progress through the sky. She keeps gaining altitude while flying in the direction of the cave. She can't go too high. The distance her chakra travels can't be especially great. Not at her level. What she does is get close to the cave and flies high enough that, with the sun to her back, Iri is almost impossible to see. If she can't be seen, it's much harder for something to attack her and break her concentration.
Once she's in place, Iri crosses her legs beneath her and starts to hover. In her free hand, chakra begins to pool. She brings the hand to her face and watches as her chakra drifts away with a few strong breezes.
What happens next is a technique Iri herself developed. One breeze centers itself around the vent in the top of the cave. It turns itself into a tornado the size of a rabbit that begins to suck air out of the cave. Eventually, this tornado will grow in size thanks the additional air. A much larger cyclone forms around the cave's perimeter. It rises until it becomes about twenty feet tall. The walls of the cyclone do the same as the smaller one, sucking all of the air within it into the barrier of air. Then the quality of the air will begin to change. The cyclones perform a special function. They thin out the air, eventually creating a vacuum. Working with two cyclones, Iri should be able to draw out the air in a cave rather quickly. Even outside of the cave, breathing will be difficult. Soon, breathing will be impossible. Tier will have to work quickly once in the circle of the larger cyclone's influence. If it's just a matter of extracting the three people, then that shouldn't be a problem.
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:33 am
Neko notices his fire flicker out, and sighs with disappointment. He closes his eyes for a moment, gathering what seemed to be a decent amount of concentration before disappearing, sinking down into the stone floor of the cave. Not even a moment later, he would emerge from the ground above the cave. it was a simple task to follow the flow of chakra, and again to match it's wavelength to a face. He looked frustrated for a moment, but managed to put on a smile before looking up to Iri, not even squinting at the sun behind her.
"Is there something else I can help you with, Iri? Or had the man you were looking for made his way into my cave?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:11 am
Tier's shadow clone followed below Iri's location on the ground.
His exoskeleton was capable of allowing him to live without breath for twenty minutes. This would gain the advantage over opponents who were losing breath by the seconds.
The real Tier spotted Neko suddenly disappear in the ground.
" ! "
TIER WAITED TOO LONG, RRRRRR.
Two shadow lines shot forth from under the couch and threatened to touch Syn and Luna's shadows. Tier still didn't reveal his location in the cave yet until the capture was successful.
If they dodged, it would only be a matter of time until they were caught. This cave had only so much room to it, Tier calculated. He was prepared with two more shadow clones hidden inside the cave at different points.
The shadow clone spotted Iri's jutsu starting to work. Suddenly, the clone picked up Neko's chakra signature coming out to the top of the cave. The shadow clone relayed the information back to the original Tier.
Stop him if he attempts to fault the draining.
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:02 pm
Iri sighs and shakes her head.
"To be honest, Neko, it's nothing personal," she shouts down to him. Shouts, because the two cyclones are picking up speed, growing in size, and getting much louder. "I'm only following orders." Those last words make Iri wince, but it can't be helped. She can only hope things work out best for Neko and the girls.
Neko knows what's going on. He knows where Iri is, but maybe not Tier. So she's more likely to be the target of an attack. There's no reason to even attempt at holding back now. The one chance she had at stealth is a bust.
That's what I get for rushing things. I didn't cover all the faults in my plan.
Iri pushes more chakra into her technique and starts to put more strength into the cyclones. The smaller cyclone on top of the cave's vent flares up and forms a tornado about seven feet tall. The walls of the larger cyclone speed up and the noise becomes deafening as they keep gaining height until they're well above the highest point in the cyclone's influence. Iri feels very sorry for the innocent wildlife. By now, the air is as thin as that of a mountain peak's and rapidly getting thinner.
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:50 pm
The girls don't seem affected by the lack of air, nor do they seem very concerned. They both watch Tier's shadow tendrils come out to meet their own shadows with a dull curiosity, Syn grinning from ear-to-ear.
Neko sighed, bringing his right hand up to his forehead, letting the fingertips touch. His clothing was being whipped around in the torrent of wind, but he stood his ground without budging.
"I'm sure they are. Have you ever questioned orders from someone? Obviously I mean noone any harm. Is this really necessary?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:50 pm
"It's in my nature to question orders, of this type especially."
The vacuum is nearly complete now. Nothing in there should be able to breathe enough to be in moving condition. And through all of it, Neko seems to be just fine. Iri never heard any commotion from within the cave, either. Surely the two girls would have been coughing or calling out for Neko? They should have done something by now.
What on earth...?
At this point, Iri can maintain the two cyclones with relative ease. They require no more chakra. Only her focus. Which is easy, now that all she has to do is direct them to keep spinning, sucking air, and possibly grow in size. If something happens, she can either maintain the cyclones or drop them as useless and try another strategy.
"I doubt Kaimen would order someone to go on a mission like this without a solid reason. That would be a waste of resources and energy. And the 'finish the job' excuse doesn't fit either. He doesn't want you dead. Only brought back to the Academy."
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:37 pm
"..."
Neko stared stupidly at Iri, trying to figure out if he had heard her right. He blinked a couple of times, and shouted so she could clearly hear him.
"Have you considered asking me!?"
Inside the cave, the girls were fine, even though there was no air to breathe. It was odd, to say the least.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 6:30 am
Tier's shadows made contact with Syn and Luna.
"Krähetechniken: Schatten Bindung (Shadow Bind)"
One of the Tier shadow clones were coming out from under the chair, slowly reforming itself into human form. The two girls wouldn't be able to move at this point. The capture was successful.
"Kekeke.
TIME TO GO FOR A WALK, GIRLS."
The shadow clone turned and started to walk towards the cave's exit, the girls would copy his movements. The original Tier was watching and had another jutsu at the ready in case an abnormality occurred.
The shadow clone outside the cave was watching Neko carefully for any sudden move. The air around them was very light.
Twenty minutes until Tier had to take a breath.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:07 am
The girls started to scream, but were cut short by the technique. They walked in line with Tier, mimicking his movements perfectly, still apparently unaffected by the lack of air in the cave.
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Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:49 am
Iri's expression goes flat. She knows that look and knows what he means. In fact, it even makes her think a little more about this mission. Since Kaimen gave the order, she's been rolling it around in her head. Nothing here makes sense to her. There's a missing detail, something crucial, and it's throwing her off.
"Oh, come on now. Think about it, Neko. After your fight with Kaimen, you ran and abandoned the Academy. Instead of taking defeat, you ran and he took over. From what I've heard, that's how it played out. And someone's been covertly attacking the newly built Academy. It hasn't all been that Steel person. So far, he's been pretty open about his attacks. If I or anyone else had thought it would as easy as asking you, this whole ordeal would have never been necessary."
The air vacuum is complete now. Nothing is in there. But Neko still seems to be unaffected. Iri's beginning to wonder if the entire technique is useless on him.
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