The abandoned mine... Arthir didn't hear of such a thing until the captain told him. It was one of three locations he was meant to visit to, quote, 'become stronger'. Yeah, okay. All he wanted was to learn how to use his 'kekkei genkai' or whatever it was that man in his dream had told him about. What was his name? Arthir...honestly had forgotten. The memory replayed in his head as he stood at the entrance.


A large man in a dark coat paced back and forth within a dim room. He hands were behind his back as he spoke. Covering his face was the mask of what looked like a rabbit. Arthir found it ironic that such a tough and gruff man would have such a creature as his mask of choice. Were-... Were the masks picked by the members, or given to them? The 'rabbit man' spoke.

"You are to visit three locations." He stopped his pacing to look at Arthir, who at the time, was wearing a red shirt with long sleeves, and dark pants. "Then, report back here, and tell me what you find."

Arthir, seated in a comfy red chair, shrugged. "And what if what I find tries to kill me?"

"Well, you've got jutsus, don't you? Normal ones besides your kekkei genkai?"

Arthir stared, and then looked away slowly ash is eyes were still on the man. As he spoke, one of his eyebrows rose while the other lowered. "Yeeesss?"

"Then you can use those to defend yourself."

Arthir nodded. "Ohhh. S-sure."

The rabbit captain gestured to one of the three ninjas Arthir had met the other day. Tiny, the timid one. He bowed, his blond hair acting as curtains for his green eyes as he did, presenting a card with location names on them. Arthir took it.

"What's this?" Arthir asked, scratching at his head, his red hair being pushed aside by the fingers.

"Those are the locations' names. It will be up to you to find your way there. At each one, you will find one of my men."

Arthir nodded, glancing at Tiny. There were two more, Joe, and the big one. He still couldn't remember that one's name.

"Ah, but do keep in mind," the captain began again, "these location are...dangerous. Probably. Maybe not."

The red-haired man stared.

"Maaaybe just a bit. Who knows. We haven't seen the area in a while. Could be full of creatures who'd be used for summoning jutsus. We don't know." The captain shrugged. "You'll probably be okay though."

"Riiight."

And with that, Arthir was excused from the room, the location card in hand.


Arthir, dressed in his white suit attire, was still staring at one of the location names. The abandoned mines... When he finally broke eye contact with the name, he looked around for one of the three ninjas. Just as he started too, he heard a scream. Tiny's scream. He was running out of the cave, covered in coal. His usually bright blond hair was down duller due to the residue of the mineral.

"Huh? What's-"

"The baby!" he screamed, running further away. "The baby's coming!"

Arthir watched the poor ninja continue running. Baby? Someone was having a baby in there? Then, rumbling from the ground. Arthir turned his head slowly back to the cave, eyes wide as he felt this. Like a ball leaving a cannon, the 'baby' had shot out of the entrance way, it's coal-covered body curled up, probably due to rolling it's way out of the mines. It flew over the red-haired man's head, bits of rocks falling down to him as it did. Crashing into the earth, it's coiled body rolled a few meters before uncoiling, revealing what looked to be a massive coal-covered armadillo of some sort. It wasn't as cute as one, Arthir had to admit, since it's usually harmless face was replaced with rows upon rows of black teeth. It's breathing sounded like hissing as its head snapped in different directions, in search of most likely Tiny. It's tail swatted back and forth as it looked, but froze as it's yellow eye spotted Arthir.

"Um-..." Arthir gulped, still holding the location card. "How about no-?"

BOOM ! !

The armadillo coughed up a large shard of coal in his direction, Arthir 'dodging' by falling onto his rump out of surprise from the loud 'boom' that left the creature's mouth.

"Y-yeah, how about no?!" Arthir shouted as he tried to stand, as if this was meant to hurt the armadillo's feelings, causing it to leave him alone.

The Baby Coal Armadillo (Uncontracted Summon):

792

Blood boiling and burning, sweat churning his system, turning his skin from the light tan it was to a shiny golden, and the dirt of the coal stained him with its black powder and dirt. He'd been... training? If it could be called that, endurance and strength training, pushing carts of rock up the hill of the mine and controlling its descent down the hill repeatedly. It burned him out, he hadn't used any chakra but his muscles burned and ached, his arms and back were stiff, and his calves were burning. He felt lighter, emerging from the cave into the light of day, the sun was a lot brighter outside than it was at the bottom of the hill.

That was when he saw how truly dirty and sweaty he was, the wind wafted his own musk about him. He needed a shower, to say the least... but his musing was cut off, a loud crashing that sounded like an explosion, the rustle of trees and brush, some shouting carried over in the noise of the environment. It had to have been just past him, maybe from another mine shaft? Something collapsing, that meant people could be in danger! His muscles fought against him but he began to speed into a run, his breathing labored a bit but he battled through it. Coming to a point where his concern and worry faded away into almost nothing, well... not nothing but concern was little more than what he'd thought of it really.

What he found was an androgynous person sitting down and a... giant armadillo standing across from him, it wasn't like... he was in immediate danger? But if he was just some citizen, as what ninja or samurai or soldier would go around in a white suit? Then this could be a little troublesome for them. It seemed like things had frozen for a moment, Maigo wondered whether he should intervene, finding himself placed just at the edge of the treeline behind them. Maigo reached into his pouch and pulled out a single shuriken, should the armadillo move and that stranger not escape or fight back or do anything, he'd have one jutsu that could give quite a shock and would be pretty widespread at that. The Shadow Shuriken Jutsu! Well, he'd only wait to launch that and announce his interest if it came to it, if it came to it.


[408 words]

275/300 Chakra (potentially):

Now standing, the red-haired man stared at the armadillo. It eyed back at him, raising one black claw slowly after another, approaching. Then, taken off guard, the tail of the creature swiped around its body, trying to piece the suited man with its tail tip.  Luckily, Arthir dove out the way, now laying on the ground again.

"Yeah," Arthir started, quickly getting up, "forget this!"

With that said, he started to run away, the ground vibrating as the creature followed. Then, the rumbling stopped, causing Arthir to look back. He saw the armadillo's tiny ears perked up, looking around its self. Its attention was gained by the nearby trees, Arthir...not really wanting to stick around to see why this thing stopped. The only two reasons he was still there, not running, was because he was afraid he'd be chased again, or that Tiny was back to rescue him.

Though inexperienced, even Arthir's eyes was able to see a shuriken fly out from the trees.

"Huh? What is that going to-?"

Just as he was questioning the lone projectile, he gasped in astonishment when it duplicated into-... Well actually, Arthir couldn't tell how many shurikens there were now! The man's attention was regained by the armadillo when it hissed, showing off it's black teeth. The creature then spun in place, kicking up dirt and rocks as it did. Arthir covered his eyes as many 'clinks' and 'clanks' filled the air. With squinted eyes, he saw sparks coming off of the armadillo. Then, it clicked for him. The shurikens were being defended by the armadillo's-

"Ow! Ugh, what the-...?!" Arthir said, uncovering his eyes as a shuriken flew into his arm.

Huh.  Well that's odd. It was probably just a bad throw or-... Arthir jumped as another shuriken landed next to him, and then another flew past his face. Then he realized. The shurikens weren't just being defended against. They were being reflected in all directions! Arthir chose to run behind the spinning ball of coal, thinking that's the only safe place. He then crouched, covering his ears as the rolling was quite noisy. This, needless to say, was not how he expected his day would go. To top it all off, his suit was now torn. Great. Arthir's eyes looked to the side.

"Good luck," he said, thinking of the person who had thrown the shurikens. Or was that a jutsu? He didn't know, but he liked it. All he knew was that the same technique was being reflected right back at them. He did not like that, hoping it wasn't Tiny.

As the last of the shurikens' clanking ceased, it still rolled, as if it had something else in mind. What could it be? Arthir thought, but failed to come up with anything. Little did the man know, the creature was actually waiting to see if the reflection of the shurikens would draw out the attacker. It would then roll towards them at high speed the moment they saw them out in the open. If not revealed, it'd stop the spinning, and try to find them while on all fours. These armadillos were, unsurprisingly, very bright and strong. A perfect combination of brains and brawn. It is justified to be afraid, even if this one is just a baby.

The Baby Coal Armadillo (Uncontracted Summon):

1357

Maigo's shuriken flew directly to the creature, on point, but it seemed to have caught wind of its trajectory. Potentially, from the hundred or so copies of the shuriken that came to life as it passed over the ground between them, the beast responded in tow by curling up and spinning in place. The shuriken clashed with its exterior in a series of clinks and pings as they were redirected back outward at them.

Maigo's sharingan flickered to life as he began to read the movements of the re-directed shuriken, scattering out in all directions, one flying into the arm of that stranger sitting on the ground, another whizzed past Maigo's head as he tilted to avoid it. He watched briefly, stepping in place to avoid more of the flying projectiles. With a sigh, he began to step forward from the treeline, the other person rushed back to hide behind a tree, clearly not a ninja just getting themselves into trouble. The light refracted off Maigo again and revealed how dirty he was, he'd almost forgotten for a second the dirt and rock fragments that had built up on him.

The beast continued to roll as Maigo fuddled around in his ninja pouch, removing his very own kyoketsu-shoge, a black knife with a straight edge and a curved edge fell to his right side, attached to some razor wire and hovering just above the ground. His right hand holding the wire, another meter or so of slack between his left and right hands and in his left hand, carried the metal ring with the coil of the remainder of that 6 meter wire besides it. He began to rotate the knife in his right hand, so that it would spin like a fan blade, the bladed edge running forward, watching the beast carefully as it continued to spin in place.

Walking forward with his eyes in anticipation of the beast, continuing to spin on, he closed the distance between himself and the rodent, leaving somewhere between 15 and 20 meters of space, the shoge attached to the wire in his right hand was now spinning rapidly and whirring the wind around it. He just needed to get a few good shots, the beasts armor might have deflected the shuriken easily, but his knife had the cutting power and more that he would need. And if he couldn't subdue the beast with his knife alone, he had a few more tricks up his sleeve, he just hoped that that civilian could stay out of the way and out of danger for the time being. Just in case Maigo really mucked this one up...


[449 words, 857 words total]
[Shoge in Locker]
[Three Tomoe Sharingan Maintained (in jutsu list)]
[260/300 Chakra remaining]

The baby charcoal armadillo, still creating a sizable cloud of dust from its rolling in place, spotted the supposed origin of the shurikens. It was a young man. Had he been older or younger, it would not have mattered. The armadillo had long known what it would do to the person. As it spun, it leaned slightly to one side, and then to the other, turning itself so that it had a straight shot to the young man. When finally aligned, the creature shot forward towards his direction.

Arthir, who was hiding behind the spinning armadillo, was surprised by this. He turned to see the large animal rolling about... Well... Arthir wasn't that good with geometry and force determining, but he had to assume the ball of coal was rolling, say, twenty meters per second.
The armadillo closed the gap between it and the male relatively fast. Arthir, having no one to ask this to, asked himself questions while all of this was going on.

"How's he going to stop a rolling boulder of rock?"

Arthir, not deciding to move, watched curiously. That is, until his arm's constant stinging stole his attention.

"Gah, damn it!" he groaned, "That really hurt. Ugh, what kind of shuriken was that? Normal kinds? Geez."

No longer concerned about his bleeding arm, Arthir looked back at the rolling armadillo, waiting to see what the young mystery man would do.

"Hold on," Arthir narrowed his eyes, spotting something in the man's hands. "What's that? A gardening tool? H-he brought a gardening tool to kill this thing?!" Thinking it was such, Arthir cringed a bit, preparing for something messy. "Oh god damn it, this is gonna suck for him, isn't it."

The Baby Coal Armadillo (Uncontracted Summon):

1648

Maigo sighed, the weapon was spinning but he relieved the weight on his chest, sinking further and further into a combative mindset. Focused, his attention had all but diverted from the other man and what he was doing. He had no intention to kill the beast if he didn't need to, but if a deep cut wasn't enough to scare it away, then he'd fend for himself in the best way he could. The armadillo was rolling rapidly, kicking up dust and dirt in its wake, it's attention shifted from randomness towards Maigo, moving back and forth a little, and then launching itself via its own momentum directly for Maigo.

Maigo's sharingan traced it, it moved quickly but his eyes could see the movement, assuming it moved linearly and would need a wide arc to change directions, like that jutsu of Maigo's even. Maigo watched and timed carefully, leaning into his legs as the armadillo closed the distance, weapon still spinning in his hand, he tilted it and began to rotate it above his head at an angle. Then, with a little time to spare, he would jump to his left towards a nearby tree, hoping the beast would roll right past him, and Maigo's knife? Would come just at the range to cut itself along the edge of the beasts hide or armor, or whatever that shell would be, testing to see how far he could really dig his blade through it.

Afterwards, he'd come to a landing and let his sharingan rotate back to the beast and its rolling, either spinning the knife above his head if he wouldn't be able to make contact or retracting it back into a spin if he could. Scouting out his damage and how quickly it would be able to regather itself and/or change direction after Maigo again, kneeled on the ground and waiting for his impending attack.

His eyes flickered around, marking the trees and debris, wondering what else the animal could have in store outside the high speed rolling that left a trail in its wake. There was always chidori that Maigo could rely on, if he really needed it and could find an opening in its rollout. That is unless Maigo wanted a broken arm from being rolled over, but that wouldn't matter much, he'd just have to keep feeling out the situation ahead of him. Kneeled at the ready with his weapon in hand and in motion.  


[421 words, 1278 words total]
[Three Tomoe Sharingan Maintained]
[245/300 Chakra remaining]

Holding his wound with his bare hand, remembering something about 'applying pressure' to it or whatever, Arthir watched the large animal travel. He was surprised when he saw the young character move out of the way, now by a tree. Arthir smiled, a bit relieved that he didn't have to see some sort of bloody result due to his endeavors. But then, a single word that decided to flutter into his mind removed that same smile. 'Yet'.

Arthir felt his chest sting a bit, and his stomach feel a bit funny when he saw that the weapon appeared to have no effect. The feeling got worse when the armadillo suddenly uncurled next to the young person, not having had rolled by. It then spun around to face him, swiping its tail quickly in his direction as it did. Why, if someone were to get hit by said tail, they'd probably receive broken bones on the point of contact. Arthir had no clue why the hell he was thinking and analyzing such a thing, but...he did. Dust and dirt rose as the tail swung, creating a makeshift 'smokescreen' of some sort, one of the survival tricks it knows. But it wasn't done.  With the twirling done, hit or miss, the armadillo would fire another shot of coal at the young man, now facing him. The force of the coal shot would immediately clear the 'smokescreen', or 'dustscreen' rather, away.

Despite its animalistic nature, the armadillo understood one basic element of the human body. It knew that its own eyes can endure what the human eyes cannot. That is to say, tear gas, for example, would be ineffective to their eyes, multiple layers of added membrane protecting the eyes from the harsh chemicals. Thus, surly a little kicked up dirt wouldn't do much to its sight. Humans on the other hand-... It knew humans had a hard time dealing with such a thing, which usually allowed it a free shot of sorts. Usually.

Arthir watched this play out, and then-... And then-... Hold on... Actually, Arthir realized something as he watched the creature move.

"Is it-...?" Arthir watched the beast shuffle from side to side, anxious to see what the young man had done in response to its coal shot. "Is it moving faster?"

Indeed. Arthir noticed, even from where he was, air rippling off the back of the armadillo. As a matter of fact, he almost thought he could feel some sort of heat in that direction. The armadillo had gotten hotter and, as a result, somehow had gotten faster. Huh. Must be mad or something.

"As if we didn't have enough problems already," he sighed, his eyes attracted to a dark red splotch on the ground. "And now that guy's bleeding. Great." Arthir looked over at the young man, but...was surprised that he didn't see any blood coming from him. He then questioned where it had come from. Was it his? No, he's nowhere near that area. As a matter of fact, the 'blood' on the ground was a bit too black to be human blood. So then-...? Everything, even the wind, paused for a single sound to echo across the area.

Splitch

Arthir, hearing this, narrowed his eyes. He saw dark liquid dripping from the armadillo's side. He couldn't tell which due to the distance. Is that-...? Is that its blood? Did the attack with the knife work after all? It must have!

"W-well then," Arthir smiled, "there's hope after all. This thing isn't so invincible!"

Unbeknownst to Arthir, and possibly the young man, the spinning technique protected it well enough. As bad as it may look with the amount of blood dripping from it, the attack had only created a fourth of an inch cut.

The Baby Coal Armadillo (Uncontracted Summon):

2290

Maigo cut it, he actually cut through the beasts hide, a smirk flew across his lips as he saw the small trickle of blood start to flow. The armadillo uncurled near him, Maigo stood into his ankles and calves, pressing as he could against the ground and jumping back again as it's tailed tried to lash out to him, missing with an intensity that would blow the bangs of Maigo's hair with wind and leave the pressure running across his face. He got a close look as he watched, it started to twirl and kick up a lot of dust and dirt all around it, nearly blocking it from sight entirely.

Maigo focused in, on his jump back, he grabbed a tree branch and rotated around it with his hand, forcing his body quickly back down the ground, where he found himself met with another blast like earlier. The dust cleared and revealed the shard of coal directly headed towards Maigo, his momentum still bringing him down, he wouldn't be able to dodge it outright. He opted instead and followed it with his eyes, bringing his left hand across his chest and crossing his right arm, palms facing out with the ring and knife in his hand, he used his forearms as a small shield from his body.

He knew it would hurt, the blunt force damage alone knocked him over, it stung as it buried in his arm between the bone, first into his left fore arm as it dug in deeply with its sharp edge. Maigo winced as he shakily hesitated to stop the blow, knocking him off his feet and onto his butt completely. His eyes twitched together for a moment as he glanced down and slowly got to his feet, the cut burn, the debris of the coal didn't irritate the wound anymore than normal dirt would but he felt it so deeply, rubbing against the bone of his arm.

Maigo hesitated and watched the animal and what dust remained as he pulled the wire on the end of his knife edge, releasing the razor wire from it and slowly putting it back in its pouch so he would be left with just his Shoge. He had a bit of an idea, waiting to see what the animal would do, it's shard of coal hit him, but Maigo wouldn't fall for that twice in a row. And then there was it's rolling ability, that or catching it en route to Maigo, he knew it would be risky, but the intensity of the flames, he could turn it up a notch. Holding the knife loosely in his hand, waiting to see what the armadillo would do.

The moment it made its way towards Maigo, if it would, or in any set direction, Maigo would aim to cut it off and blast it with the Great Dragon Flame jutsu, if he could find the chance to do so. No hand signs needed but inflating his chest with an immense amount of chakra and launching forward a huge Chinese Dragon's head of flame to either cut off or hit the armadillo head on if possible. But that would be dependent upon how it acted, if it acted or would wait for Maigo to move first, and... if that stranger was still paying attention enough to stay out of the way, knowing he'd lost track of where he was positioned in relation to Maigo and that rodent.


[586 words, 1864 words total]
[Three Tomoe Sharingan Maintained]
[210/300 Chakra (potentially)]

Jutsu Used:

Arthir silently cheered just across from the two combatants, not wanting to draw attention to himself. He bounced where he was, shaking fists towards the young man with a large smile on his face. That smile left quickly when said young man was injured.

"O-oh no," Arthir finally broke silence, his silent cheering turning into silent worrying. "If he dies, I'm probably next."

Then, it hit Arthir.

"Wait a second," he put his hands on his sides, "why the hell am I still here?!" He turned away, and was about to leave, but...something didn't feel right. "I mean-..." He turned his head back to the young man. "M-maybe it would be...the nice thing to do? To stay? Maybe thank him?"

Arthir stared, not sure if he should stay or go. He then nodded to himself, deciding on what to do. "I'll stay, just in case they need a second pair of hands." His pink eyes lowered to his hands. "A set of inexperienced, fresh, new hands," he mumbled. His mind stewed on this, realizing that he'd probably be incredibly useless in any case, which kind of rekindled the feeling of uncertainty within.

Unlike Arthir though, the armadillo was brimming with confidence. Ha. It had to admit, it was a bit worried about this stranger, witnessing the techniques they had pulled with shurikens and the like. Now, however, it seemed to have gotten comfortable. The enemy had sustained damage from the coal shot, and it looks like they won't be using that arm anytime soon. Maybe. Though still a baby, not knowing much of the world, even it knows that disabling a limb of a wild creature may just be the end for them.

It waited, running the fight back so far in its mind, developing some sort of makeshift tactic. Ah yes... That would do.

Plan decided, the armadillo charge for the young man. It hopped a bit, allowed its claws to slide against the earth as if it were ice. As it traveled, it spun around quickly, swiping its tail at the man once more. It knew that they'd be smart enough to get out of the way, having had just saw this strategy. So it prepared for the next part of its plan, the-...!

The armadillo was surprised. It all happened very quickly, but not too quick. The young man's chest bloated, which didn't mean anything for the large animal. However, the bright element leaving his mouth... T-that was...fire! Instinctively, with its back towards the stranger, the armadillo curled into a ball while in the middle of its tail swiping. This left its charcoal back wide open for the flames to devour. It knew its armor would ignite, which wasn't that big of a deal. Nothing a little rolling can't fix. However, a small detail slipped its mind. The cut.

Light squealing came from the now ball of fire that is the armadillo. As the flames fanned and wave, leaving second-degree burns on the spot where the weapon had got it, the armadillo uncurled for a moment so that it could push itself forward with a bit of momentum, rolling back into a ball. As it was leaving the young stranger, heading in the direction the stranger had been facing this whole time, the rolling extinguished some flames. While the armor wasn't lit up like the Hokage's manor anymore, bits of embers still lingered. Uncoiling again, the armadillo searched for the person responsible for the flames, spotting them in the same spot, about ten meters away. Speaking of 'same spot', it would seem the armadillo was in its spot from before as well. It was as if no one really moved.

Arthir, eyes wide open, stared. "W-what the hell was-...?!" He asked, not really expecting an answer. I mean, really, who would answer him? The wind?

...

Arthir looked up, ears listening to the wind.

...

Hwoosh~

Zounds! The wind had actually answered! It...was at this point Arthir knew he was starting to get a bit bored standing around. He just tried to convince himself that the wind spoke words to him. That, and the usage of 'zounds'. What the hell.

The Baby Coal Armadillo (Uncontracted Summon):

3002

Maigo felt the blood drop from his arm now, he knew it'd be beyond a pain to his arm, left it dangle unless absolutely necessary, he mused to himself as it still held loosely down to his side, blood dripping out and clenched fist, coal embedded within his forearm. Maigo's dragon head of flame burst forth into life and cut off the beast from its attack, choosing to retreat back within its shell again instead of pushing forward. All in all though, it seemed to end in a stalemate, they each stood where they were, Maigo's left forearm punctured severely and... well, the armadillo had a good cut and some burn marks on its shell. Fair trade in the end.

The flames themselves though continued on past the armadillo, crashing and fanning out into wildfire and burning through the forest behind for a few more meters, not lasting long but leaving their mark on the surrounding area. This was getting tedious, almost annoying at how much time he was wasting on this beast and its games. He gritted his teeth and held tightly to the knife, "Enough games!" he called out witha  fire in those eyes of his, tracking everything, he focused himself again, readying his stance and sliding his feet in the dirt to place them shoulder width apart.

With the knife raised he held it high to his upper left, waiting and watching the armadillo carefully for what it would do, if anything. Maigo on the other hand, was set in plan, he began pouring an immense amount of chakra into his blade, feeling it hum with the energy within, then... with speed and grace, he cut the air randomly in front of the monster. Looking it dead on, leaving a trail of chakra in the path of the blade with as wide an arc as he could create, then stopping and changing momentum quickly, he did the same and creating a crossing diagonal in the air too, another arc formed singularly from it afterwards. The first arc blasted forward as the second was still being created, tearing the distance between them in the flash of an eye, a powerful crescent of chakra, one of his strongest long range attacks, if it hit, it would prove far more dangerous than his previous techniques.

The second arc, would blast forward again after the fact, at the pause of his knife and having drained the rest of the chakra out of it to create another shimmering blue crescent of chakra. Both in tandem would be attacking quickly, aimed directly for the armadillo, though, whether these attacks would be able to break its shell or catch it off guard would yet to be seen, but if these couldn't, Maigo would be severely questioning if any of the jutsu in his arsenal could do any lasting damage. Well... he had one more jutsu just in case, but that would be far more deadly and risky to use in this situation.


[502 words, 2366 words total]
[Three Tomoe Sharingan Maintained]
[170/300 Chakra]

Jutsu Used:

Arthir was somewhat amused and proud of his little joke about the wind. Fortunately, that was to himself, and for no one else to hear. His attention went back to the creature and the stranger, a frown forming on his face. Ouch. That wound the stranger took looked to be mighty painful, much more than the one Arthir had taken from that shuriken trick the young man did earlier. It wasn't his fault though.

The thought of him taking the poor guy to the local hospital crossed his mind, but then something else crossed as well. The armadillo. What, would the armadillo magically gain the ability to speak? What would it even say? Arthir thought about it.

"Yeah, sure guys," the fictional armadillo's deep voice spoke, Arthir's mental image of it saluting to the two, "I'll way here until you're done. Make sure to come back for me, alright?"

And once that's said and done, it'd let them leave? Or, oh, maybe it'd say,

"Oh man," the mental image of the fictional armadillo stood on its hind legs now, rubbing its frontal claws together, "sorry for making such a nasty wound on ya, pal. Hospital bill's on me! How 'bout it?" With both claws open, the insides facing upwards, the imaginary armadillo smiled with its sharp teeth, "I'll throw in a missing Kumogakure local for luuuunch, huh? You humans like the dead stuff, right? Enticing, no?"

The fictional armadillo would turn to a small mound forming on the ground next to it, a missing Kumogakure local rising from said mound, skin rotting.

"'Ey yo, I'm temptation, get me on a lunch plate today, okay?" the zombie local would say, arms held up to the sky.

"Temptatiooon!" the armadillo, the corpse, the stranger, and Arthir would all join in saying at the same time. "Temptatiooon-!"

"Enough games!"

Arthir shook his head, hearing the stranger finally speak. "Huh? Temptatio-...?" He looked around himself. Wow, he must be getting tired, almost believing his fictional world was reality. Either that or drinking orange juice two days after the expiration date really is bad for you. He rubbed his head. 'Part of a complete breakfast' my ass.

"Aw man, what the hell," he sighed. His pink eyes looked over to see if anything had changed between the stranger and the creature.

Nope. There they were, still in the same spot. Oddly enough, for it being a potent daydream, Arthir still heard a faint 'temptatiooon' in the back of his head. He shook it, groaning.

Over towards the armadillo's situation, it watched after hearing this young man speak. Whether or not it understood what he said is a mystery. Its heart increased as it was getting anxious from watching and waiting. It had a plan already in its head. It wanted to stab the creature with its tail, and then follow through with a combo of sorts, disabling their ability to walk. However, that plan shifted from the ability to walk, to the ability to use their arms. That weapon, according to the creature, seemed to be the source of their 'magic', so the armadillo and its clan know it as.

With its body still heated and blood circulating quicker, it was able to curle up in a ball very swiftly. It wasn't sure what was happening, or what the technique was, but it knew it wouldn't be able to pierce its shell. Hell, nothing could. This was easy. That is, until it felt stinging from its back. What the-...?! Did-...?! Did something actually cut through its armor?!

Unknown to the armadillo, the technique the stranger used was able to slice through quite a bit of flesh. Fortunately for it, the thick slabs of coal on its back had protected it from some of the damage. Some. While not taking the full force of the attack, it still sustained two-inch cuts per slash. This...actually felt worst than the small slice he had taken earlier and had exposed to the flame technique. Thick black liquid flew and poured down the sides of the armadillo, acting as a silent but obvious sign that said 'Hey, I've been hit!'. It uncurled, feeling as if it was stretching its wound by being in a ball. Its eyes watched the young stranger.

While it's true that, indicated by the brightness level of its eyes, it was hungry, it...wasn't sure food was worth dying over. It wanted to attack, and have it be successful, for the sake of pride, but-... The armadillo hesitated, staring. It didn't fear much, the coal armor on its back being its 'ultimate weapon' if you will, but if something could bypass that, then-... There has only been three other creatures that have been able to do such a thing. One is its own kind, the other being some weird monster seen around somewhere, and the third being-...

"Hm?" Arthir blinked, watching the armadillo start to slowly...back off? "W-wait-..."

Its legs moved so...sluggishly, one step at a time, as if someone had hit 'slo-mo' mode on the documentary that is the current situation.

"H-hey, it's-!" Arthir's sentence was cut off when he felt the ground shake.

The vibrations were coming from behind him which caused him to turn and look. From within the mine shaft, two more armadillos rolled out from the entrance. But...they're rolling wasn't as fierce as the first's. These seemed calmer and...more controlled than the original. Arthir watched as one of them came over to him, sniffing near him.

"O-oh hey," he instinctively spoke, and then gasped when the other stuck its snout into his white jacket's pocket. "O-oookay, how about we don't-?" He yelped a bit when the other pushed its snout against his back, a coolness coming from the strong sniffing. "It's-..." Arthir gulped, "It's...Crystal's Secret," he said as if the sniffing was the armadillo's way of saying 'Hey, what cologne are you wearing?'. "Goes pretty cheap, s-sometimes."

With the nasal inspecting done, one of the armadillos plops onto its stomach, the ground shaking a bit as it did, laying there and watching the stranger and most likely its sibling. The other did the same, creating another rumble. And, at the same time, both expelled a burst of black smoke from their nostrils. Arthir...looked at the two, shrugged, and then fell onto his rump. He sighed through his nose, unknowingly mimicking the two other creatures.

The Baby Coal Armadillo (Uncontracted Summon):

4108

Maigo's slash cut through the armor of the beast, leaving some deep cuts along with it, with a heavy breath Maigo grinned with defiance, his eyes focused intently on the beast. The armadillo hesitated in its steps for a moment, Maigo thought he found his moment to attack and fight off the beast once and for all, but Maigo... also hesitated. The armadillo crawled back a bit, it's body language shifted almost completely, what were fierce and intent eyes focused on attacking and a want to move forward and take Maigo as it's own prize became cowardice and hesitation to continue forward.

Maigo straightened out in his stance and flipped his kunai into a reverse grip, standing straight but still at the ready, he watched the armadillo still retracting away. Maigo felt his smile go as it seemingly limped away in anguish, Maigo had no reason or want to finish it off, though, those wounds were deep and posed a threat to its life inherently.

As the armadillo limped away the area shook a bit, Maigo's head turned slightly and his eyes glanced over as two more of the armadillo exited from the cave. Maigo sighed heavily, one of them was proving tough enough, he didn't know if he'd be able to take on three at once, even if one had it's will taken away from it. Maigo gripped tightly as he weighed out his options, trying to decide if he should continue on with the battle, putting himself at greater risk, or attempting to make a run for it. The two armadillo rolled over to the other man and proceeded to plop down along with him, such a... weird turn of events. Maigo's head tilted as he looked around, wondering what he was supposed to do and what would happen next.


[310 words, 2676 words total]
[Three Tomoe Sharingan Maintained]
[155/300 Chakra]

The two were at a standstill. The armadillo was waiting for the man to make his move but, it looked like the man was also waiting for it to act. Its attention was grabbed when two more of its kind appeared, sitting next to the human that was Arthir. It stared knowing what was to come next. Its ears flattened as it waited.

Arthir, oblivious as to what the other two armadillos' appearance meant, just thought they were being friendly. Which, you know, is something he'd be totally okay with. Then, the ground shook again, much stronger this time. It didn't take a genius to know that whatever was causing the shaking was much bigger than the armadillos Arthir and the stranger had seen so far. Low and behold, such an assumption would be soon proven right.

Crawling out of the mineshaft's opening was a much larger armadillo. This one was not a baby like the others, its size being that of an adult. Arthir stared as the adult armadillo paused near the mine's opening. Then, it crawled further, stopping about three meters near Arthir and the other two lesser creatures. Comparing size with the adult animal, the already presumed to be 'massive' armadillos looked like tiny pugs next to the adult. Luckily for the humans in the area, its eyes indicated that it was quite sated in the meal it had some time ago.

The adult animal stood onto its hind legs. It lowered its head to the lesser creatures near Arthir. It flicked its head over to the mineshaft, a small grunt coming from it as it did. As if they were given a command, the two armadillos next to Arthir balled up and began rolling back into the mineshaft. Their movement, whether big or small, would have caused Arthir to jump in surprise just as he did when they left. The adult then looked over to the damage armadillo.

The adolescent animal stared, its breathing a bit labored. Its ears were still flat, knowing what it had done. It couldn't wait for its food any longer, deciding to go after the locals of Kumogakure. It figured it could have eaten a quick snack, and got back home just in time. Yet, here it was, body and pride damaged and still starving. Again, it knew what was to come. If one were to act against the 'rules' that have been set by their kind, there goes their shelter. It waited for the gesture that meant it was to leave and never come back.

The adult armadillo looked over to Arthir, its eyes locked on his damaged arm. It then stared at the stranger's bleeding body. As it did both, its ears twitched, showing interest. Then, the ears stopped their movement when the eyes landed on the child armadillo. The wind blew as it stood, mother nature trying her best to provide ambient sounds for such a tense environment.

Finally, the armadillo grunted, flicking its head over to the mineshaft. The damage this small one had done-... The damage was somewhat impressive to it, and thus, it decided to keep the disobedient child around.

The ears of the damaged armadillo flicked upwards, a soft groan coming from it. It wasn't a groan of disapproval or annoyance, but rather a groan of...being pleasantly surprised! It thought for sure it would be-...! The lower armadillo's eyes shifted when the adult flicked its head again. It wasted no time, curling into a ball and rolling towards the mineshaft. However, the damage it sustained caused its speed to be reduced drastically. It wasn't sure if it could roll all the way, unballing itself in front of the mine's entrance and deciding to crawl.

Now, there was just the sole adult armadillo, and the two injured humans. Its eyes were back on the stranger. Since this wasn't a planned attempt at hunting, the armadillo decided to leave a 'gift' of sorts for the humans, it acting as an apology for the little one's actions. Its chest bloated, and then-...

BANG!!

Flying from its mouth, directing towards the stranger was what looked to be a larger version of the coal attack the smaller armadillo was capable of doing. This one moved incredibly fast, too fast for Arthir to react obviously. As he turned his head, sluggish in comparison to the shot of coal's speed, he was shocked when it suddenly...exploded. Black charcoal dust flew outwards, enough to reach the young stranger and Arthir.

Arthir wasn't sure what this was, but felt a light stinging from the arm that took a shuriken. He looked down to the wound, his pink eyes widening in surprise. Some sort of black rock was forming over the wound, like a scab almost! Was this too coal? Arthir yelped when it felt like the coal scab was sucking on the wound. Then, he gave a sigh of relief when the pressure ceased, the scab crumbling away into dust. He cautiously brushed off the remnants of the coal scab, noticing that...the wound had closed! But how? Was that some sort of jutsu, or-...?

Arthir looked towards the mineshaft opening, noticing the adult crawling back into the hole it came from. He took a deep breath.

"Well alright then," he commented. But then, he looked over to the stranger. That...technique healed his wound, but what about the stranger's? Arthir leaned from side to side, wondering about the effects of the 'jutsu' on his arm. Regardless, Arthir would walk over to him, and...pretty much thank him for his help.

"For the record," Arthir pointed back at the shaft, "I didn't know they were in there, so...sorry about that."

The Adult Coal Armadillo (Uncontracted Summon):

5070

Maigo stood at a draw for a moment with the other armadillo, things reaching a standstill as he waited for the next move, only to be interrupted by a far heavier and greater rumble in the earth, his head turned back towards the cave to find a much larger armadillo emerge. His grip of his own fists tightened as he knew that there was no way he could take more, he was totally outmatched here in every way he could think. The tension built in Maigo has his hand hovered back towards his pouch, thinking of quickly drawing his Shoge if he could.

For a moment, the adult looked around, took everything in, sweat beaded at Maigo's forehead and fell down as his breathing labored in nervousness and anxiety, wondering what he was gonna do to take on all of these animals. Though, he still had a few more jutsu, his eyes had burned a huge amount of his chakra already, and he wouldn't have long to go, not to mention the other guy still there just... what was he doing now?

The larger armadillo shifted and called back the two, then with a quick roll the two newcomers left the arena, Maigo still hardly understood what was happening as the intense staredown and focus in front the adult came about. Tension rose even higher as it motioned the last armadillo within, Maigo's grip loosened a bit as he continued to watch everything unfold before him, totally confused at what was happening here now, his eyes watched as the monstrous armadillo inflated its chest. Maigo's eyes widened, any attack from that one would be far more devastating, he began to crouch into his stance to move but it was too late, a 'Boom!' cracked the air and coal flew straight at him. He felt the small moment of panic as he watched it, too slow, his feet just starting to trail on the ground now, but... it exploded. Leaving black coal dust everywhere around them.

Maigo stopped quickly and covered his mouth and nose with his hand and closed his eyes to prevent it from getting in, a stupid maneuver maybe but he had no idea what the affect of it all would be. He felt it cling up around his arm thickly, moving around he could feel the dust litter about the air. A moment passed as the dust settled and Maigo slowly opened his eyes, sharingan still spinning, glancing to his arm and seeing the coal rock removed, and slags of rock falling away from a cleanly healed wound. Utter confusion... but the larger armadillo had run off already back into the cave, so Maigo slumped over and gave a sigh, the other man had already made his way back towards him.

Maigo felt relieved but he had no intention of sticking around any longer than he needed to. But the other man spoke up as he arrived, mentioning that he didn't know they were in there, Maigo rotated his forearm and glanced at it, all healed up in some mysterious way before he looked up to the stranger and nodded, "It's fine, just... be more careful next time." he offered bluntly and looked back towards the cave before continuing on, "I have no intention of staying here though, and I think you ought to be leaving as well..." Maigo let his words trail off as his sharingan unwinded itself, revealing his normal honey colored eyes.


[584 words, 3260 words total]

The stranger responded in a way which made Arthir think. It was true, he was still in front of the animals' home. They could have a change of heart any moment now.

"Yeah," Arthir nodded. He backed away, scratching at his head. "Yeah, yeah, that makes...sense."

As he started to turn away, ready to head back to Kumogakure to report the bust to the captain, a question hit him. He turned back to the stranger.

"Hey, uh-... What's your na-?"

As Arthir was asking this, panting came from behind him, causing him to turn around again. It was a small, frail-looking blond ninja, pale as paper. It was Tiny.

"I'm ready!" they shouted, a look of hollow courage on their face.

Arthir...wasn't sure what they meant by 'ready'.

"For what?" he shrugged, raising his hand to the side as he did.

"The monsters! I'll-...!" Tiny paused to catch his breath. "I'll handle them! I-I-!"

"They're handled, thanks to-..." Arthir turned his head back to the stranger. "Whoever they are."

"A-ah!" Tiny nodded, and then bowed to them. "Thank you, kind-..." he breathed, catching his breath, "...k-kind stranger!"

Arthir cleared his throat. "So what the hell was I supposed to do out here?"

Tiny gasped. A weird reaction to have, but he did it. "Y-you were supposed to-...! Actually-…" he put a finger to his bottom lip, thinking. He failed to pay any attention to Arthir crossing his arms and tapping his foot. "I-... I think it's best if the captain explains it to you."

"Greaaat,"Arthir said, his voice screaming a tone of exhaustion. His pink eyes looked over to the stranger, giving him a single wave. "Ought to be leaving," he repeated the stranger's words, doing just that.

Tiny bowed again to the young stranger, and then hurried after Arthir to catch up with him, slowing to a walk when they got close.


Back in his home, Arthir sluggishly moved to his bathroom. He was somewhat surprised that he hadn't involuntarily gone during the animal encounter. Actually, he was more than surprised. He was probably even a bit proud! It meant he didn't fear large animals, or...maybe death more appropriately.

"Bah, I could've taken them," he said, assuming the boxing stance. He must have been either so tired or so enthused about his mental boxing against the large animals that...he forgot he was relieving himself. Luckily, his fluids hadn't gone anywhere.

He leaned his head back, taking a deep breath and exhaling. Then, the red-haired man started naming off the things he should do today. "Clean the bathro-... Actually, I should shower first," he corrected himself. "But cleaning sucks, so I'll do it first." As he finished, he continued to stare up at the ceiling. A small, tiny thought had entered his mind. What was the point in visiting these locations again? Sure, he knew the reason why, but...how would that help him? Then, Tiny's suggestion from earlier entered his head.

"I'll ask him," he said, referring to the captain. "...tomorrow. I'll ask him tomorrow. Today, I'm cleaning."

It wasn't planned, the need to clean. It was decided right there on the spot, as he was looking up at the ceiling. There were multiple brown spots, and dust strings hanging. It-... It honestly grossed him out.


5646

[Exit]

Maigo waited the short instance as the person spoke up, agreeing that they should probably get out of there but... he was quickly interrupted in asking for Maigo's name, another person appeared out of nowhere and began to rant on, deeply out of breath and all else, though, Maigo could relate to the fatigue even if he wasn't fully showing it. Maigo listened in as they went back and forth about their well... whatever it was they were doing, making a slight point to Maigo himself for having taken care of the armadillos already.

Maigo nodded at the thanks, offering a quick, "No problem." to the new stranger. Their conversation continued on though and Maigo fidgeted a bit in place as he had nothing really to contribute at this point anymore. However, in a strangely good way, they were both in agreement to take off as well, the first stranger turning and waving to him with a small comment about their needing to leave too. Maigo nodded and spoke up too, "Yeah, it's definitely time to go, until next time..." Maigo smirked and jumped, using the body flicker to mask his initial movement as he escaped away in the forest and headed back to the village in a light run.

The fatigue of his muscles had grown a bit, he was... tired from training and fighting against those beasts but it was all over now at this point, moving through the brush and trees and jumping from tree limb to tree limb with the wind and environment rushing past him with every leap and step. The fatigue set further and further into his limbs as he paused for a second to stretch and take a breather. The thought crossed into his mind, he never gave his name or found out the names of either of those strangers. Well, at the very least, he didn't imagine they were foolish enough to keep searching around in caves on their own, knowing they didn't seem the ninja type or strong enough to handle those armadillos, least not 4 of them like had showed up. Even if the one did proclaim that he was ready to take them on, it was more false bravado than probably worth anything, Maigo sighed as he stood among the trees and off the ground.

With labored step forward, he leapt again to the next branch en route to the village, to find his way back, finally get back and sit down. The village opened up into his view with a quickly setting sun, he wondered how much more of the mundane traveling he would have to do before he could call it quits, find an end to today's journey and let it be over. Sit down with food, relax a little, then crawl into a shower and consequently a bed afterwards. Well, he figured as soon as he got through to the village but even then, it seemed that he would still have a few more mundane things to take care of, like making/buying dinner and all that jazz. Still, he was almost there, almost done... just a little farther to rest.


[531 words, 3791 words total]
[Exit Thread]

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