Welcome to Gaia! ::

Morning was slow in coming, the rain had never really went away. Just as always. Which meant that even several hours after daybreak, the sky was still as overcast and gloomy as it was at the start of the day. The denizens of Rain had long since learned to not require the presence of sunlight to tell what time it was, it was generally only visitors that had troubles. Shiori was no visitor, but she was exhausted, meaning that she slept far past the gloomy break of day, long after the point she would usually wake up. She had used a lot of chakra the day before, what with having to make a mad break from the village with little to no notice. And having someone to keep track of on top of that!

She slowly began to come to, consciousness reluctant in it's return. But return it did, as her eyes slowly fluttered open. It took her a moment to realize just where she was, the rough stone walls looking more like a dungeon than any room she had stayed in before. Memory eventually reminded her of the cave she had found, and the presence fo the warm bear fur on top of her solidified those memories to the point of full recollection. The calm of a hopefully ordinary morning was shattered, however, when she tried to sit up. Tried, and failed. Looking down, her eyes widened in shock when she saw the reason. Yuriko had seemingly proven a restless sleeper, enough to toss and turn, or rather, to turn and grab. She could barely move because the girl she had been charged with protecting had latched onto her, arms wrapped tight around her middle. She blushed when she realized just where Yuriko's head currently was, and tried to wriggle out of her embarrassing grasp. The still slumbering girl seemed reluctant to let go, but eventually Shiori was able to slip free, and out from under the cover of the fur. She shivered almost immediately, another bone-chillingly cold morning, compounded by having had to leave her clothes out to dry. The fire had long since died away over the course of the night, now not even embers remained. She knelt down next to where she had laid out her garments and checked. Thankfully they had dried, along with the majority of her paper.

Gratefully, Shiori quickly dressed, feeling that if she didn't, and Yuriko were to awaken, the morning would get much more complicated and awkward. Luckily she succeeded, and looked around the cave they had claimed for the time being. The rain obviously wouldn't let up any time soon, if ever, so sooner or later they'd have to brave it again before continuing on to whatever other village was their destination. she hadn't even put any thought toward that yet, her only goal the night before had been to get away from the village, before whatever had caused that flash flood had attacked in any more force. Even now, she had the sinking feeling the battle had only heated up, and that her absence was a true stroke of luck. Though even with that bit of fortune on her side, she still had a rather lengthy list of problems. The most troubling one of all, of course, was none other than Yuriko herself. She had thought herself free of the deviant when she had left Hidden Leaf. But no, fate had seemingly conspired against her, to the shocking extent of managing to have Yurko follow her back to Hidden Rain, and make arrangements with her clan leader to make sure that the two of them weren't separated again. Shiori almost wanted to scream at the sheer absurdity of it all. Being dragged into a situation like this, with someone like that... it was almost too much. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those troubling thoughts as if they were bits of fluff caught in her hair.

Worrying about her troubles wouldn't actually accomplish anything. And she was sure she'd have plenty to be annoyed by once Yuriko woke up, so she might as well take what little peace she could now, while it lasted. She had a job, and she still had some loyalty to the cause. So she'd carry it out. Her task was to protect Yuriko. While that mostly meant keeping her safe from harm, she didn't expect the girl had much in the way of survival skills. That meant she'd have to prepare a morning meal. She hadn't brought any food with her when she had left Hidden Rain in such a hurry. Even so, fate had at least provided for her in that regard, the bear she had taken care of the night before had more than fur to donate to the cause. She looked over at the now cold carcass and sighed. She wasn't a butcher, but even so, she'd have to if she wanted to get anything in her belly. Or to not have to hear Yuriko complain about being hungry. She better not be a vegetarian!

There weren't any coking supplies, either. So she made do, getting the fire going again before finding a large flat rock, and managing to contrive a set-up that would place it over the fire, with space enough between to not snuff the flames out. The fire would heat up the stone, which would in turn heat up anything that was placed on top of it. Such as freshly carved bear steaks. Certainly a... robust breakfast, the lack of vegetables or something to drink was already noticed. But there weren't any grocery stores out here in the wilderness, this would have to make do until such a time as they returned to civilization.

Soon, several pieces of meat were sizzling away on the heated rock, the smell enough that the slumbering Yuriko began to wake up. She sat up, rubbing at her eyes as she blearily looked around. It seemed she, too, had a moment of confusion upon awakening. She caught on after a moment, though the method was one that Shiori could have done without. "Onee-sama!" Yuriko cried out, beaming happily. Whether she didn't notice her clothes had also been laid out to dry, or just didn't care, didn't seem to make a difference as she got to her feet and rushed to Shiori's side, clinging to her once again. Shiori tried to get her to let go but only succeeded in getting Yuriko to let go of everything but her arm, that remained firmly locked in the girl's grasp. She ignored Yuriko as best she could, using her free hand to keep their repast from overcooking,

After Yuriko had seemingly calmed down upon grabbing onto her, the girl immediately began trying to thank Shiori for saving her, going on and on about how brave she had been and so forth, enough to make Shiori even more self-conscious than she already was. Shiori finally managed to interject, enough to at least point out that running away was hardly brave. She pointedly asked Yuriko if she wouldn't mind getting dressed, she'd catch a cold otherwise. And keeping her safe would be trouble enough without her getting sick. At Shiori's words, Yuriko looked down and realized she was indeed rendered deshabille, and stepped back, giving off a rather shrill and very fake cry of embarrassment, even going so far as to pull an arm and leg up to try to hide herself. "Kyah! Onee-sama!"

Shiori heaved another sigh, this was going to be a looooong day. She turned away from Yuriko as the girl got dressed, focused on pulling the fully cooked meats off of the rock and putting a few more pieces on the impromptu skillet. There were no plates, so she had just grabbed a second reasonably flat stone, to set the cooked meat upon. There was far more bear than the two of them could eat, indeed or even carry, so it seemed they would be leaving a very generous meal for whatever scavengers came to the cave after they had left later in the day. She risked a glance back, and saw that Yuriko had finally gotten presentable. She let her know breakfast was ready, and the two sat down to dig in. No silverware, but a pair of kunai worked well enough.

Between bites, Shiori debated asking Yuriko just why she had gone to so much trouble to find her again. somehow, she knew the answer without even asking, though, she instead she asked if she was really prepared for what was coming. It would certainly be safer if she were to just go back to Hidden Leaf. It was Shiori's job to protect her, so she would even escort her back. But Yuriko just shook her head, saying she didn't care where she went, as long as it was with her. Shiori stared blankly at the girl for a moment, unable to believe anyone could say such a line with a straight face.

Soon enough, they finished their meal, and Shiori extinguished the fire. The rocks would stay hot for hours, there was nothing she could do about that. But there was nothing burnable near them, so she wouldn't have any rampaging forest fires on her conscious. Not that fires were ever long for the world in this neck of the woods. Hidden Rain had a handy and ever-present fire extinguisher of sorts, after all. Shiori shrugged and packed up some of the cooked meat, wrapping it in one of the pieces of paper that hadn't handled being dried all that well. It would be no use for combat, so she might as well get at least some use out of it. Looking around, their camp had been cleared as much as possible, with one exception. She noticed Yuriko looking at it, and asked in spite of herself. "You want to keep the fur, don't you?"

Yuriko looked up, blushing a little, seemingly embarrassed at having been read so easily. Hopefully that was the reason, at least. As it turns out, maybe only half the reason. She nodded, saying she wanted to keep it, it was the first time they had shared a bed. Shiori groaned in vexation at this, having upgraded from sighs due to the increased annoyance of this seemingly lovesick deviant. This wasn't healthy, was it? Shouldn't she be focused on boys or something? Whatever. She grudgingly acquiesced, and pulled out a scroll, before storing the fur away. It would have been way too big to carry and still make good time, not to mention it would become ruined if simply carried around in the pouring rain. Even now, it would need a good cleaning once they had the chance, if it was to ever be used again.

With that latest obstacle taken care of, there didn't seem to be anything else stopping the two of them from setting out. their destination still had yet to be decided, but for the moment that wasn't important. No matter where they went from here, it would take time, and no matter which direction they went in, they would eventually reach somewhere. So simply putting the time spent undecided to use in transit was just efficient. Before they headed back out into the rain, Yuriko managed to ask if they would be flying again, seemingly a bit more embarrassed than was necessary for such a relatively innocuous question. Shiori only shook her head, before giving a verbal response. Maintaining those wings for flight took a lot of chakra, and while they had yet to face any actual concerted opposition, she wasn't about to take that chance again. She would need to maintain what passed for her meager chakra stores, in the event of a battle breaking out. So instead of taking flight, she would have to walk along like how she had left the village before, and how she had returned. Yuriko didn't seem to mind this, eagerly latching on to Shiori's arm once more as she pressed close to her under the umbrella.

Shiori should have expected that, from the short amount of time spent with the exasperating girl, that much should have been an expected response. She tried to ignore the continued feeling against her arm and stepped out of the mouth of the cave. Almost instantly the wind seemed to pick up, a bitterly cold breeze that carried a multitude of the droplets of rain that were still falling even now. It was dreary, dank, miserable weather, but there was never anything else. So waiting for a turn in the weather was just wasted time, if they wanted to get out of this infernal rain, the only option was to keep walking, and manage to put enough distance between them and the village's borders.

The going was slow, slower even than the last time she had to slog through the mud and muck that was what passed for Hidden Rain's natural splendor. The reason was because she had to walk slower, the alternative was to outstrip Yuriko, the other girl seemed to be moving far slower than was needed. It took Shiori several long moments to figure out why. Namely that Yuriko was intentionally taking her time. When she finally confronted her about it, Yuriko was quick to apologize, going red in the face once more, but managing to stammer out an excuse, that she was simply enjoying herself so much, walking arm in arm with Shiori, almost like they were- At this she let out an embarrassed cry and covered her face with her free hand. Nonetheless, Yuriko began to speed up, enough that they could at least travel at something approximating a normal walking speed. They made decent enough time, weathering the inclement weather, shrugging off the perpetual rainfall, the almost constant waterfalls of shed rain on the shared umbrella. Even with it's protection, their clothes picked up more and more rain, starting at the lower hem of their outfits, be it stocking or a skirt. It was a more gradual process than the night before, when Shiori had had to fly through the air to reach her destination. That much, at least, was a small comfort in the general unpleasantness of the weather. The rain seemed to cause moods to plummet even as it fell itself. People grew tense or frustrated when the rain never went away. Perhaps that was why Hidden Rain carried such a war-torn history?

So far Shiori had managed to avoid that particular pitfall, at least to the extent of her own general stance of neutrality. By not getting involved in either side in the rather charged climate of politics and such, she avoided that which allowed Hidden Rain's eternal rainfall the access to her mental state. So she was one of those lucky few who could remain true to their beliefs, even when confronted day after day with that blasted rain. This ability kept her in good stead when continually confronted by Yuriko's strange ways. They still bothered her, but not to the point of her doing anything foolish, or final.

Time passed, and the rain kept falling. With the ever present staccato tapping of countless drops of rain showering down on their shared umbrella, the sound almost seemed to grow louder and louder. It wasn't, it just seemed loud in the absence of other sounds. Yuriko seemed more sensitive to this, or perhaps she had already been wanted to talk. Sounding a bit embarrassed, she still asked. "Oneee-sama," at this Shiori flinched a little, she wasn't her sister! "Onee-sama, you must think I'm a horrible bother, don't you?"

Shiori didn't answer, unsure if the truth or a lie would be more harmful in this instance. No matter which way she opted for, it wouldn't go too well for one of them. She sighed, it seemed she was doing a lot of that lately, and made her decision. "No, I don't find you a bother..." She knew she'd regret trying to spare Yuriko's feelings, but at the moment, it just seemed rather heartless to say something cruel when still having to share an umbrella. That would just be horrendously awkward, more than she wanted to deal with. So she had lied. Not a huge lie, she didn't outright dislike Yuriko. She certainly didn't feel about her, the same way Yuriko felt about her, though! That was something else entirely, and she had no intention of even considering such an occurrence.

"Yay! Thank you Onee-sama!" And sure enough, her little white lie proved to have the expected result of safeguarding Yuriko's mood, the girl clung to Shiori's arm even tighter now, to a level that was just shy of being immodest. She couldn't pull away, not without taking the umbrella away at the same time, so she was stuck in an awkward position yet again. She silently prayed that they would hurry up and reach the edge of Amegakure, and reach an end to this perpetual rain. Once they could stow the umbrella, Yuriko wouldn't have to cling so tightly to her, right? At least, she hoped that was the case.

Yuriko asked Shiori more questions, the nature growing more personal bit by bit. At first, Shiori didn't have any problem answering the innocuous questions. But once they started getting downright intimate, she put a stop to it. That... was no one's business but her own! On the other hand, it seemed Yuriko felt very little shame at all, to the point of returning the favor of sorts, and giving her own answers to the same questions, including the startlingly personal ones. Shiori blushed in spite of herself, hearing such details was distracting to say the least, regardless of her proclivities. Finally, she had had enough, and suggested they just walk in silence for a while. Yuriko agreed, and once more adjusted her grip on Shiori's arm. Shiori sighed once more, wondering if she was going to lose feeling in her arm from loss of circulation.

While enduring the unique experience that was Yuriko was exhausting in it's own regard, Shiori still felt relief that there hadn't been any other form of obstacles. They had yet to encounter any bandits or such, nobody that was trying to injure, kill or capture them. So at least there was that much going for them. If their luck stayed on that same path, then the journey wouldn't take too long, and she wouldn't have to hear any more about Yuriko's intimate details.

Finally, the rain seemed to lessen, though still falling enough to requite the umbrella. They were getting close to the border now! Shiori wanted to rush, to hurry up and reach the limit of Hidden Rain's demesne, but she knew better than that. Rushing, even in light rain,w as inviting a tumble. And even if no injuries would result, the fact that there was mud all about them would seem to indicate another night spent with the fur. And after all that she had heard, she wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

With the rains till falling, Shiori didn't dare pull out her map, to see just where they were. To see just where the next closest village might be. But even so, she knew they wouldn't get lost. Her sense of direction was good enough to prevent that. At the very least, there was no chance of getting lost while still within Hidden Rain's lands. Of course, the very outskirts of the lands would be easy enough to spot as well, just look for where the rainw as falling. Once they reached other lands, she would have to use her map. But that wasn't a problem, she could still handle things during the journey while checking a folded up map.

And then, finally, thankfully, she realized she couldn't hear the sound of rain on the umbrella. They had finally reached the edge of the village's lands! She tilted the umbrella to the side, shaking off the worst of the accumulated water before retracting it and tucking it away. Yuriko seemed to pout a bit as this necessitated her letting go. Once the umbrella was stowed and Shiori's arm was free, she was about to reclaim it, when Shiori turned to look at her, and told her in no uncertain terms that she couldn't keep hanging on to her like that. After all, she was her bodyguard, and she wouldn't be able to protect her if one of her arms was being held at all times. Yuriko surprisingly understood, though the reason that revealed itself a moment later was unfortunately all too obvious in hindsight. "You still want to protect me, Onee-sama? Yay!" Shiori shook her head in annoyed acceptance, at least she had the use of both arms again. Meanwhile Yuriko trailed just slightly behind, leaving Shiori all too aware of the fact that Yuriko's eyes were on her with every step she took.

Now that they were free of the rain, they were making much better time. Shiori enjoyed the simple warmth of the sun shining down, unmarred by ever-present steel gray storm clouds. Yuriko seemed happy enough where she was, though that was rather disturbing in itself. Nonetheless the journey was proceeding about as well as could be expected. Which meant...

Sure enough, fate decided that there had been peace enough over the journey so far. Though Shiori would argue against the journey so far being peaceful, not with all that she had had to endure at the hands of Yuriko. Nonetheless, there was a real and present danger now. It started with a rustling sound in the bushes, Shiori noticed it and gestured for Yuriko to stop, and remain quiet. Thankfully the girl did as instructed, she could act responsibly once in a while.

The source of the noise was revealed a moment later, as a small group of people emerged. Judging from their light armor and rough features, these were bandits! Shiori moved a half step back, to be better able to grab a hold of Yuriko if they had to make a retreat. Unfortunately a retreat would be more difficult than she thought, as Yuriko's whispered cry drew her attention to more bandits merging all around them. So they wouldn't be able to run away. Forming her wings and taking flight took too long, the time needed to gain lift would be more than enough for the bandits to swarm in and catch them. Better to play it cool, not reveal she was a ninja at all.

She demanded to know what they wanted. The bandits didn't answer, besides exchanging menacing laughs and dark looks. This wasn't good, she suspected they wanted more than just any money or valuables they were carrying. One bandit, apparently the leader, stepped forward and told the two of them to come along quietly like good girls, and they'd be treated very well. The emphasis on those last two words was the last straw. Shiori knew that if she wanted to have any chance of getting out of this with Yuriko, she had to launch a single large attack, punch through the perimeter in a single go and use that moment of surprise to gain some serious distance or time.

She looked around, feigning nervousness, as the group moved in closer. In actuality, she was looking for which direction might have the fewest bandits to get past. Each side was covered by several, but there were only three on the side opposite the leader. She could handle three. She hoped. Not even giving out a cry of readiness, she launched an attack, trusting in the surprise such an activity might encourage. Dozens if not hundreds of sheets of paper spilled from her bag, fluttering madly in the slight wind as if it were a tempest. The masses of papers struck the trio of bandits, earning cries of surprise and pain to mirror the shock and outrage from the bandits she hadn't targeted. Shiori wasted no time in grabbing Yuriko's wrist and pulling her along as she ran toward the trio of bandits.

The bandits were still recovering from the sudden assault and the dozens of small but serious cuts they had gained. This gave Shiori all the opportunity she needed, to dash between them, and be past before they had a chance to try and stop her or Yuriko. She gave Yuriko's wrist a reassuring squeeze, they were going to get away! Just then, she heard the bellow to call to arms, as the rest of the bandits almost instantly gave chase. They had to move, now! She sped up, putting as much distance as possible between them and the bandits. If she could just gain enough of a head start, she would have time to form her wings and gain enough altitude that the bandits wouldn't be able to stop her.

Unfortunately things never worked that easy. Even without looking behind her, she could tell the bandits were close, very close. They had to move faster! She rushed ahead, pulling Yuriko in her wake, the girl crying out in panic. As she continued running, she tried forming her wings, but it was difficult. Having to split her concentration between running and using her paper meant that both activities suffered. She was able to partially form the wings, but this gave the bandits time to get even closer.

She still thought they might have a chance to get away. That was until one of the bandits leaped out from behind a tree in front of her. How in the heck had they managed that?! She skidded to a halt, pulling Yuriko close as the bandits once more closed up ranks to form a circle around the two of them. She wouldn't have another chance for a surprise assault, they knew what she could do now. And sure enough, the bandits wasted no time in looming closer, tightening up their ranks even more, getting closer on all sides at once. The closer they got, the less of a chance she'd be able to use her attacks without risk of injury to her or Yuriko. Did she have any choice, though? Risking injury from her own paper beat whatever would happen if the bandits caught them!

The bandits were right on top of them, leering gazes, grasping hands and malevolent chuckles seemed to loom up around the two of them. She felt Yuriko cling tighter to her, and Shiori knew that it was now or never. Drawing upon all of her strength, she put her all into one last attack. If this didn't work...

Papers fluttered in all directions, madly flapping as if from a fierce wind. The bandits tried to ignore it, shrugging off the small but painful cuts the papers were leaving behind. Several of them drew weapons, stocky clubs. An obvious sign they meant to capture rather than kill. And still the paper came, flowing out of her pack as fast as she could will it. Their surroundings almost resembled a winter landscape, vast expanses of white paper reminiscent of snow. Only then did the attack show it's intent. Now that there was enough paper, it all whipped into a frenzy of action. Each bandit found themselves under attack by hundreds of sheets of paper. Not with the attempt to cut, but from simply trying to engulf the bandits. Shouts, cries of panic filled the air for a moment, then all was silent.

Panting heavily, Shiori staggered to the side, enough that she could look and see what had happened, if her attack had succeeded or not. It had! Each fo the bandits was fully coated in a layer of paper, almost like they were mummies. There were a few twitches, but for the most part they seemed incapable of moving. That had been far too close!

Only after she had seen her success did Shiori finally give in to the wave of exhaustion battering at her will. She knew if she passed out, the paper would revert to form and fall away from the bandits like so much fallen leaves. She struggled to stay conscious, and tried to urge Yuriko to get away from the bandits.

The world seemed to spin, and she heard Yuriko cry out to her. Odd, her voice was so quiet now? She felt a pair of hands grasp her by the shoulders. The world had gone dark by this point, she had no way of knowing if the hands belonged to Yuriko, or if the bandits had already escaped. She was so exhausted, she couldn't even bring herself to force her eyes open to see if she had failed or not.
[4805 out of ???]

Hedoro, in her Kuro persona, had been wholly focused on finding the Amekage and making him pay for the hubris of such a weak attack toward her. A powerful attack she could at least acknowledge as belonging to someone worth eating, but a weak attack was just an insult. So focused on punishing this act, she had almost missed noticing the presence of this new arrival. they saw fit to introduce themselves to her, something a bit out of the norm. They spoke, and a goodly amount of speaking at that. So much of what had happened had been a Genjutsu, then? Bothersome. She only barely used techniques of that sort herself, preferring a more physical confrontation. Those who hid behind illusion often weren't strong enough to fight normally. But not always.

She came to a stop only an instant before this familiar-seeming figure dropped down in front of her. Oh yes, she remembered him now. The puppet-user with a puppet body. "A wager?" She replied, cold menace already in her voice. "Why bother, I'll take what I want from your lifeless husk!" She was already angry at having been attacked, and at having been fooled. For someone else to point it out to her, was a clear invitation to invite that same wrath down upon themselves as well. Crius had made himself a target to be taken care of before she continued on to the Amekage.

She wasted no time in letting her actions follow her words, she rushed forward, attempting to close the distance between them, at the same time she lashed an arm in Crius' direction. A multitude of small pieces of her substance would rush forward faster than the rest of her, akin to the blast from a shotgun, aiming to cover much of the space in front of her with a volley of her own substance. She didn't have the patience to exchange pleasantries, or indeed to talk of foolish wagers, she wanted to destroy!
[336 out of ??? ]

Hedoro knew her attack had missed, she could sense the strange rope that Crius had used to pull himself out of harm's way. It didn't have the same sensation as a normal rope. Was it made of chakra, then? That should come as no surprise, he was a puppet-user. She remembered one of the last times she had fought one of their ilk, those chakra strings. But now was not the time to sit there thinking, now was the time to destroy! She continued rushing toward Crius, rounding the corner only an instant after he had. He was waiting for her, it seemed obvious that he wasn't taking this fight seriously, and that just got her more angry. Before she had a chance to punish him for his impudence, she felt the air beginning to warm up as the rain stopped preternaturally fast. She remembered this technique as well, it had been used on her once before. It brought the sun out in all it's accursed glory, heating things up, drying them out. Even here, in an alley between two rows of buildings, there was precious little shade to protect her from the rapidly rising heat. Of course, as a puppet Crius wouldn't be affected much by this technique, a decent enough attempt. Something as paltry as getting hot under the collar wasn't about to stop her, though!

The kunai were a little more pressing, however. If Crius was intelligent at all, they wouldn't be simple pieces of metal, there would be something special attached. She would normally just bat them away, but decided to try something a little different. She brought an arm up, and dozens of snakes seemed to stretch out from under her rags. Some of the snakes went for the kunai, to bite and grab them out of the air, while the other snakes continued past and straight for Crius. At the same time, a bubble would form around Crius. She didn't expect the Bubble Trap to last long under this heat, even thickened with chakra, but all she needed was for it to last long enough to delay Crius' escape from the snakes. "So you want my title? And what will I get if I win? Your life?"
(374 + 336 = 710 out of ??? )

Hedoro had thought she had the advantage, but it seemed Crius still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He hadn't even bothered trying to dodge her attacks, instead he had used an ability of his own to redirect them. She felt the gravitational pull almost immediately, and tried to brace herself. But with the ground underfoot rapidly turning to sand, any effort to have tendrils burrow into the ground ultimately ended in failure. It took a moment, a moment during which she actually deformed somewhat, stretching out as the high gravity sphere pulled her up into the air. She let out a cry of rage at this indignity, and a moment later, tried to attack the sphere, in the hopes that she could destroy it. A long column of water shot from one hand, taking the form of a serpentine dragon as it rushed toward the new gravity nexus. Unfortunately it didn't seem to work, the dragon just curled in on itself as more of it was sucked into the sphere's demesne. A moment later, Hedoro joined it, along with a vast quantity of sand and debris. She was hardly out of the fight, even if she was trapped in a sphere floating in the air, however. The gravity and sand didn't stop her from performing more hand seals, enough to cause a small portal to appear behind Crius, one of her fists emerging almost instantly, in a punch aimed right at the back of his head. More of a petty lashing out than a concerted attack, it was an expression of her anger over being trapped in this gravity manipulation ability. At least she was beginning to beat the heat, the sun's rays weren't bothering her as much as they had been before. That was one nuisance taken care of, at least.
[304 + 710 = 1014 out of ??? ]

Hedoro hadn't really expected her attack to succeed. She didn't know the details of Crius' doujutsu, but she knew he had some method of enhanced vision. A sneak attack against enhanced vision was dicey at best, so her having failed in hitting him wasn't too surprising. That being said, it did little for her mood, getting her even more intent upon destroying him, breaking his puppet-fused body into itty-bitty bite-sized pieces. She was still trapped by the gravity sphere, though not to as strong an extent as before, she could feel it's pull weakening. That meant it was time to go on the offense again. She would disappear from the center of the sand-filled sphere, using a basic Substitution technique to appear a fair distance above the battle field. Not enough to be out of sight, but enough to buy her a few seconds' time. Time she intended to use. She began dropping quickly, but as she fell, she was also increasing in size and mass. Feeding more of her chakra into her form to increase her size, enough to be able to fight against an entire ocean of sand. Or rather, to swallow an entire chunk of the landscape, and Crius along with it. It certainly wasn't subtle, but it could be very effective. At the same time, the Water Dragon Projectile she left behind in the gravity sphere was doing much the same, growing in size and swallowing down everything that touched it. This battle was getting more intense, and taking Hedoro's size into account, it would be apt to call it a titanic struggle.
[271 + 1014 = 1285 out of ??? ]

(For all intents and purposes, consider Hedoro's shape as an enormous dome dropping on the scene.)

Hedoro felt a flash of irritation as once more, Crius began altering the gravity of the area. Just as she had been falling before, she was still falling now. Just falling up instead of down. A change in perspective, it didn't bother her too much in that regard. The flood of sand rushing up to meet her, on the other hand? That was rapidly becoming a nuisance. Crius seemed intent on just continuing to badger her with sand, not that that would accomplish much. Perhaps it was time she stopped taking things slow and do something a little more final? Even with the sand whipping all around her, she still knew precisely where Crius was. He knew where she was, too,s he was sure of that. But that didn't matter. For what she had planned, knowing where he was, was more than enough. She knew where he was twice over. Partially because of the displacement in the moisture in the air. Even with all of the sand, even with the sun's heat still falling down on everything- though now that there was a false floor of sand above them, there was a pleasant layer of shade- she still felt the Crius-sized disturbance where he was. But what was more, she could feel his pathogens. She hadn't really expected to become aware of a disease's presence in a battle like this. what sort of sickness could a puppet catch, anyways? Wood rot? Even so, it seemed Crius had managed to infect himself. And where infection was, so too was she. She had already infected him, back near the start of the battle. She had waited to see if he had noticed, but he seemed oblivious to it. And now, now it was too late.

She didn't bother starting slow, she tweaked his diseases, and her own particular brand of virulence, to a high degree in only moments. Crius' chakra would begin to putrefy, almost literally disintegrating into the ether as time passed. What chakra remained within him would have the process slowed somewhat, but anything of his chakra that extended beyond his puppet body would dissipate almost instantly, the energy itself vanishing without a trace.

"I suppose you are right, it's about time I play for keeps. After all, I will have quite a bit of work to do after finishing you off." Unless Crius had a method of purging these custom-tailored diseases from himself in short order, he would find his chakra sapped, completely, and a whole bevy of other harmful side effects that would ensure he would pose no further trouble. His cockiness was the one key aspect of his downfall, without it, he would never have let himself become infected so easily.
[457 + 1285 = 1742 out of ??? ]

(Using a random number generator, right down the line, from 1 - 212, whatever technique that is, is the one that is sealed.)

Hedoro had been taken by surprise by the revelation that the Crius she had been fighting was a clone. Was the real one scared of her, now that he had come to fight her? Perhaps it was time he found out what true fear really was! At the same moment that the alchemical light array was coming into being, Hedoro was making her departure from the sky turned ground. Whatever Crius had planned, an array that big meant more trouble than she cared to deal with. She disappeared in a spray of substance as she used a Body Flicker to appear behind what would hopefully be the real Crius. He was still pouring forth sand from his gourd, that explained a lot. He must be so stuffed full of sand that there was no room for any brains.

"A clone? Does that mean you intend to fight me yourself now, or will you concede defeat?" After all, it was his clone that had challenged her, and it was his clone that had lost. She didn't really expect Crius to agree with that line of reasoning, so instead she immediately followed it up with a torrent of liquid aimed squarely at his back. It seemed to be water, but the porous nature of the silica gel would not seem to absorb it at all. Hedoro cast her senses wider to see if there might be another Crius hiding around, or if she would have to resort to more drastic measures to ensure that the puppet master stepped out from behind the curtain. She didn't want to waste her time fighting clones, and if she had to resort to something large enough to make sure of it... Well, it was better for all concerned parties if it never got to that level. She would simply began escalating her aggression until any lesser copies of Crius would be blown away one after the other, until only the real one was left. By that point, if the puppet master had insisted on exerting so much of himself in copies and fakes, then the remainder wouldn't be nearly enough to stop her.
[357 + 1742 = 2099 out of ??? ]

(Sealed techniques:
Water Walking
???

Just going to stick with 212, if the same number shows up more than once, it will just go down [+1] instead, same as how that Metronome technique I still have to finish was supposed to work.)