Mission name: Operation: Desert Lotus
Mission rank: D
Objective: Hunt down and Deal with a known bandit threat.
Location: Suna; What Lies Within
Reward: 150 Ryo + 1 EP
Mission Description: Kirigakure have enacted a vicious operation within the sand nation to push bandit groups to retreat in hopes of finding their bases of operations. Intel has been given to the ninja on the suspected location of suspected Bandit groups. Locate and identify the targets and engage with extreme prejudice, but in such a manner to force them to retreat, so that they may be followed.
Mission Details: The low level bandits that the forces of the mist are targeting aren’t pushovers, they’re veteran thieves and racketeers that have been preying on the poor for a some time in the absence of the Sunagakure ninja forces. The attackers will come face to face with at least 10 C Rank bandits with C-1 tier stats as well as B rank light armor and weapons with the base defense / damage for equipment of their rank.

Verdandi moved down from the base camps to the outer rim of the Excavation Zone. The Squad was about to meet up. Dandi was the first one to arrive and couldn't find any specific oasis anywhere. If they wanted to camp out here she was not going to idly sit in the sand and let the dust cover her. She scratched Avalanche's neck as they figured out a little hole in the sand covered mountain side would do. It was in-sight of the supposed meeting point. Verd used some gentle fuuton to blow the dust from the mountain hole and quickly formed some sort of ice-based entry gate to give it proper cover. Finding some dead trees would suffice for a fire. Despite it being hot during the day it could become quite chilly at night. Not that either of those disturbed someone that could control the cold. Still Verd felt that the whole chakra management to adjust her body temperature and layer her skin in icy sun protection was taxing on her energy reserves.

Once she gathered enough firewood she'd casually seat herself into the make-shift base of operations. Slowly piling the wood up as she pulled forth her radio and started to echo the signal out to see if one of her squaddies was already nearby. The problem was, that they were technically already sitting in dangerous territory out here. As by mission command they were supposed to go behind the lines of bandits attacking the villages. Ambush them and let a few of them escape so they could follow them and find their actual bandit camp.

Verd scratched her head, not sure how they want to tag them after the ambush. Probably something Haka could do maybe? Avalanche sat himself on the floor behind Verd. Turning into a comfy and fluffy chair for the ice princess as she was trying to use her fire-stone to set the fire ablaze. It didn't work. Verd would have to buy a new one or ask Haka, using her squad members as a lighter was a funny thing to do though. But they weren't here yet. The day was still young. Depending on when her squaddies would arrive they could probably still move out without needing to nap here. Verd would probably prefer it that way anyhow. Cooling herself required chakra management. Whenever she fell asleep most of her cooling effects would slow down. She'd either have to layer herself in frost or wake up all sweaty.

As the heat of the day picked up, Verd was glad she didn't turn on the fire. Instead she started to infuse the ice-gate with more, thicker chakra as it started to melt. Idling by placing a small ice cube into the centre of the cave, next to the firewood. Starting to grow the cube slowly and idly. Using it to cool down the basic temperature within the cave.

All while she kept her finger on her radio. The weirdly deep but calm voice she had from Gin's distortion matrix, would echo into the signal area. Whenever one of her mates would pick up the signal she could give them the hints on how to find the cave camp. She was giddy to get going soon.


550

What was with this place? This heat, this wind by day. The icy cold at night. Haka disliked it. It was too dry to her liking, the endless sand sea too boring. No life in sight with the exception of menial critters that could barely make a snack to the giant wolf spider. Why would Kirigakure even want such a dreary place when they had a perfectly good place surrounded by water and mist? All there was to be found here were ruins and pitiful humans crawling away at the slightest sign of trouble. A land of weakness, eradicated and left to rot away. And Ahoban was sent here to deal with it? That didn't make sense in the slightest. What were they doing here anyway? As if the lands weren't already a bother, Administration felt it necessary to send in the whole squad for a dumb D-rank mission. As if only one of them would not be sufficient to deal with some weak target. While it was true this land was probably the least fit for any of the three of them, Chigetsu seemingly evaporating where he stood, Verdandi suffering a continued drain on her chakra just to keep cool and herself being a creature who's habitat was that of a humid forest, Haka was fairly certain any one of the three of Ahoban could have dealt with this on their own. What a waste of potential.

Dredging through the sand to the rendez-vous point, her radio would crack with activity as she came in reach of Verdandi's. She would send back a signal but leave the radio otherwise as it was. She found the radio to be an odd thing. A gift from their squad leader, but with a twist. It was strange but that personal twist was exactly what discomforted the spider. Aside from having to deal with non-genjutsu invisible means of sending messages the voices of her squad always came out wrongly. That thing must have been possessed during its creation or something. Whatever it was, the spider-nin avoided using it if she could do so.

Her signal triggered an answer. The deep voice of Verdando coming to life as the radio spoke to give instruction as to where she could be found. Funny. Dealing with a desert that barely had any landmarks was not an easy land to navigate, while at the same time just about anything at a far distance was either spotted already or a natural genjutsu of sorts. One thing was certain, the fata morgana were an inspiration for the spider that had set her mind on picking up doton and genjutsu, but other than that she disliked this place with every fibre of her being.

With the help of the instruction she would fine back Verdandi at a makeshift camp, trying to set a small campfire ablaze while the sun was about to set up. Haka shook her head. The blazing sun wasn't doing the Yuki any good, that much was clear but that unfortunate discomfort was shared by the whole squad. By the time Haka arrived near Verdandi, some sort of ice gate was created to cool the nearby air but the plaguing winds of the Land and the blistering sun that mercilessly battered down made the whole ice gate feel like a mere few drops of water trying to douse a blazing fire.

"Administration needs new brains.", she'd say as a way of greeting. Seriously, who sends in a squad naturally unfit to deal with such a heat to handle a dumb D-rank mission anyway?

---

607

Total Thread wc: 1157

There was no place on Earth that Chigetsu hated more than the Land of Wind. He had never been to the Lands of Fire or Earth, but he was sure that they weren't nearly as hellish. It would be difficult for them to compare in any way. As if the unbearable heat during the day wasn't bad enough it completely reversed during the night. At the very least it didn't seem to fall below freezing, although at times it felt pretty close. If it did drop to be that cold that he had to worry about turning into an icicle Chigetsu likely would have turned around and marched all the way back to Kirigakure. He was fortunate the robes he wrapped himself up in had the dual purpose of keeping him cool at day and warm at night.

The crackle of the radio on his hip would evoke a small sigh out of him. He had already grown used to the ridiculous voices that Gin had chosen for them, but it still wasn't really something he wanted to use unless necessary. That she had chosen such a silly sounding one for him probably reflected a bit on how she viewed him, and that frustrated Chigetsu. Rather than using it for its intended purpose in communicating with his squad instead he would use his natural intuition to travel to the rendezvous point. Natural intuition and the fact the radio buzzed whenever they were in range of each other, so he always knew if he was getting close or not. Verdandi seemed to be putting little tips and tricks on how to reach her position out through the coms too, which were incredibly helpful.

His journey to the meeting point didn't take long, although it did seem he was the last to arrive. Dressed thick in robes characteristic of Sunagakure fashion, that he totally didn't swipe off a corpse, he would be set a little bit off from the other two members of his squad. They both kept dressed in their traditional outfits, along with their combat armor. Whether or not they teased him for his silly looking robes didn't matter to him though, as they were the only thing that made being here half bearable. Approaching the fire that she had going, Chigetsu would take a seat in front of the small flame. The warmth would be soaked up, and Chigetsu would let out a long sigh.

"I agree. What were they thinking, getting involved in this place? ...." He would reach up and wipe at his face, groaning. "Let's take a vacation after this all is over. Go to a nice beach... Or not. On second thought, I never want to see sand again." The time before the mission began that he could sit here and soak up the warmth of the fire would be something Chigetsu leaned into, not exactly being eager to get up. For such a trivial event as a D-Ranked mission was at this point his career he couldn't exactly be excited to proceed. More than anything it felt like a massive waste of time that was just meant to torture the three of them.

---

[541]

Total Thread WC: 1698

Verdandi nuzzled against Avalanche, the comfy bear growling happily away in the little hole. Feeling right at home in any type of cave, especially as long as Verd was around to literally cool him down with her presence. Verd watched her Squaddies sit around the fire. The gentle warmth at the centre and the covering ice covering the entrance seemed to make a good combo after all and the temperature was stable and mild. However. The day wasn't over. Their targets were close by supposedly. But neither of them seemed willing to move.

Verdandi figured if she sent a shadow clone she would be forced to swallow all it's memories of working hard. So instead she went with an ice clone. Slowly growing the thing out of the ground. The clone was seemingly displeased with it's task, despite it's inability to speak it trotted off with a bad attitude and some binoculars. Allowing the rest of the team to stay inside the cave while Verdandi happily played temperature controller. Even offering Chi another set of ice cubes to nom on if he wanted.

After at least two hours, filled with them protesting about Suna, the way it sucks, the way it's hot, the way it's empty and forgotten and particularly was missing anything of interest for them, something was about to happen. They ended up wondering if they could drink Chi in case they ever ran out of suiton or normal water. Laughing heartily every now and then while Verdandi's poor clone was slowly melting in the sun on the hill above them. It was sort of cruel. But it was a good question whether or not the ice clone actually had feeling like a shadow clone… or if the whole attitude was just another mimicry of their Master. Despite the whole fun and games. The clone had spotted its target. It slowly trotted its way back down to the cave entrance.

As the clone stepped into the doorway, Verdandi almost lost it of laughter. Her ice clone was about half it's previous size by now. Having suffered to the exposure of direct sunlight and with no direct source of natural Hyouton it had not been able to renew its own form. Dandi stood up to touch the clone and re-solidify it's wet, dripping or rather melting skin. Despite it returning back into solid shape, it still remained small however. Verd shrugged. Chibi-Dandi would officially be part of the family for now. The tiny fun sized version of Dandi trotted on and lead the team to the outlook. Passing the binoculars to Verdandi and allowing the princess to see through and spy the shadows of a medium sized group of merc's and bandits.

Perfect. Verd gave Chibi-Verd an approving pat on the head which in return smiled. Avalanche slowly moved in and Dandi softly tugged some of his fur to plant her butt on his back. The chibi Version did so alike. Expecting the other two squaddies to find their own way of transportation as she squeezed her legs to Avalanche's belly softly. Whom in return quickly sped off into the distance.

Before they would come anyhow into close distance. The bandits would enter some sort of mountain rift within the sand dunes. Potentially a cave not unlike the one the Ahoban's used previously. Allowing them to approach with caution and yet with speed. They would however have to get off their mounts somewhere nearby the mountain's feet. Probably sneaking around and somehow scouting the situation within the cave would be the next step.


Verd WC: 610 / 1160
Total Thread WC: 2308

Chakra 160 / 200:

Time ticked away slowly in the giant hourglass with unlimited sand grains that was Sunagakure. The heat only rising, or so it seemed. Sweat would drip down her face, her breath as dry as the desert wind. It was official. The spider had discovered something in her life that was more worthy of her disdain than the unevolving species she was forced to deal with. Sunagakure. She had discovered a new depth of dislike - the experience of hatred was real at this point. Cold and quiet hatred, as the spider-nin's face would not reveal the slightest of hint at this newfound emotion. One thing was sure. When she could return home, she would not hesitate to do so and anyone who would decide against that sage decision would experience what her thoughts were on the most sage idea of leaving this place.

While Haka patiently waited, her brooding mind keeping her quiet and occupied as Verdandi tormented her own clone for one twisted reason or another. Haka further confirmed that the Ice princess was, indeed, losing her mind which was most likely slowly evaporating under the insufferable heat as much as Chigetsu was losing body weight at a startling rate. If this suffering kept going, Haka might be the only remaining 'normal' member of the Ahoban. Which didn't say much considering she was hardly humane to begin with. Eventually the half-dandi clone would return with news, leading them through the desert by form of bear and towards a grotto within a mountain rift that supposedly harboured the bandits.

Haka would flick her white hair, wet from perspiration, backwards. If this was where the bandits were hiding there was little else to do than to enter and start their show of terror. This was stated as a D rank mission, so even if they would turn to hostilities they weren't supposed to be much of a threat. It wouldn't be hard to give them the scare of a lifetime. For a giant wolf spider.

"I'll scare them. Be ready to pursuit."

Yawning in boredom, Haka would walk on towards the entrance of the cavern. Once she was near, she walked upon its walls and creeped inside along the ceiling, forming the hand seals of Kirigakure no jutsu. The suiton mist would quickly fill the cavern and blind the small dozen of people that were inside, their sight disallowing them any sight beyond a handful of meters. Haka's perceptions having sharpened in the course of time, suffered only the minimal problem of not noticing minute details. Creeping in deeper along the ceiling still, her shinobi training allowing soundless movement, the spider-nin would take note of the bandits' actions within the cavern. Confusion had drastically risen, anxiety and alertness spreading like a disease among them.

The two closest to the exit would run out fast, their memory allowing an easy way out of this unexpected situation, but other than a thick mist and possibly Haka's allies making quick work of them, there would be nothing of notice that would offer a solution to their problem.

Then the real fun would begin for the spider. A repetition of a previous mission where she had the liberty of dealing with a small camp by herself. How long had it been since the wolf spider had assumed her true identity? That of the terrifying wolf spiders of Osada Island? Too long to her liking. She was in her element here. Alone. Anxiety had spread. Hairs raised as her monstrous aura slowly creeped upon them. If that aura had been eerie in the beginning of her time as a 'human', her growth in power had only made it worse. Eyes would widen. Perspiration of fear would waft in her direction. Haka would hiss long and softly much like a cat would, throwing her voice in the shroud of the mists.

People would mumble. Poke each other. 'Something is here'. Yes, something was here. And that something dropped from the ceiling knocking the first enemy out with one good strike before she bit and injected her venom into the second one. Nothing deadly, but the burning pain of venom would be enough to make the supposed threat real. Then, Haka would vanish again as swiftly and quietly as she had appeared. Shouts would resonate, fear rose even higher. People were stumbling around, another two would finally find the exit and run with fear for the unknown clutched within their heart. Easy targets once again, if her squaddies so wishes.

Sowing terror just to disturb the formations of her enemy. One had to grant it to the spider-nin, she was at her best when it came to denying her opponents' opportunities. Through seals, webs, fear or assassinations, it mattered little to the wagon-sized spider. A fifth person, just slightly too solitary for his own health, would be webbed against the wall, his strength not sufficient to get out of his predicament. He'd scream for help, the aura of the monster nearby, her ghastly hissing echoing nearby. Unfortunately, no help would come. The man's sorry faith was the drop that allowed the bucket to flow over. The other five would run away in terror, bumping against each other, stumbling over the floor, and into the open, welcomed by the merciless heat.

All alone with a singular prey and believing the others would hardly pose a threat now for the bear, the blob and the two frost queens, it was time for the spider to take a well-deserved trophy for her own. The girl would become the wolf spider, the trapped prey her food for today.

---

950
Total: 1557
Thread Total: 3258

170/200:

Chigetsu took the offer for a handful of ice cubes. His earlier fear of the stuff was significantly lessoned by the fact that they were in a scorching hot desert. There wasn't any risk in the slightest of freezing to death now, and even if there was maybe that would be a mercy compared to melting. The ice cubes would be sloshed around in his mouth. Sucking on them cooled his head and likely was the only thing that kept his brain from being cooked inside his skull. The liquid that melted off of them mixed with his own, sifting down through his internal structure to the bottom of his feet. The heated water rose up to replace it, and the entire cycle continued and created a slow internal flow inside the male's body. After his internal temperature evened out he would keep himself cool by sticking close to Verdandi. The way that she was lowering her temperature through her special chakra wasn't something that he failed to notice, and if he stood close enough he would find a bit of that cooled chakra radiating outwards. Even if it was a violation of personal space he would have a hard time resisting. Being so close was one of the few things that made being out here bearable.

The return of the clone wasn't something he was too eager to see. Its half-melted body was a reminder of what could easily happen to him if he stayed out in the heat for too long. Reducing down to a 'chibi' form of himself was a terrifying but very possible prospect. He instinctively touched the water bottle he had strapped to his waist.  If only he had brought ten of them. As Verdandi and Verdandi 2.0 climbed up onto Avalanche to ride on out, Chigetsu would be removed from his personal air conditioner, and left to find his own way to regulate temperature. Keeping up with Avalanche wasn't exactly an option, and with Verdandi up on his back he couldn't leech from her coolness anymore. The brunt of the desert bore down on him harshly after this. Having grown used to the ice and cold all this scorching heat would fall on him like a massive weight. Perspiration would leak from him freely, and very quickly he would begin to evaporate under the desert heat. During their little walk he would reduce in size a few inches, trails of vapor streaming up visibly from his head.  

He swore under his breath when Haka took went first into the cave. Surely it would have been cooler in there, especially once it was all covered in mist. Impatiently he would wait for her to do her job. Luckily for him it wasn't one she dragged out. Haka was swift and meticulous, executing her horror show before Chigetsu even had a chance to start complaining again. Two would be running out shortly after she entered, caught up in anxiety and fear. Instinctively Chigetsu would raise his hand and prepare to shoot them, although he would think better of it at the last moment. They were supposed to leave these bandits alive, or something like that. Rather than just blowing their faces off with a well-placed water bullet, Chigetsu would send two whizzing right past their heads. Already caught up in enough fear for them to flee from their base, these two would quickly turn in terror from the combination that waited at their entrance. Perhaps it wasn't Chigetsu's water bullets, but the fact that there was a polar bear behind him that scared them away, but the details didn't matter. The same process was repeated for the others that ended up streaming out of the cavern shortly after. If it really was the bear they were running away from he quickly regretted shooting those bullets. Spitting out water in that manner had reduced his size again, and by the end of it all Chigetsu was about a foot shorter than he normally would have been.

---

[682/1223]

Total Thread WC: [3940]

Chakra 170/190 | 12/15 Hydration:

Verdandi stood on top of the cave entrance while Avalanche casually sniffed inside. Haka moved by and instantly off into the cave. Chi was looking terrible, almost as bad as little chibi Verdandi. Before anything big could happen, screams would echo from within the cave and men would start coming, running out of it. Verd would see how Chi scared them back into the cave. However, what the 7 criminals saw in there, whatever Haka was doing with her webbed target, it was so horrible they ran out from another hole in the cave not far away from the main entrance.

Verdandi shortly formed a few hand seals and created tiny little ice birds that would happily chirp and fly around her head until she aimed her palm at the enemies in question. Seven targets. Eight birds were with her. She aimed specifically for their feet the birds quickly hitting and cutting into their footwork. Making them stumble. All of them. Six ere pathetically stuck in the sand. One kept on running further away. As Verdandi passed them, she would simply stare at one of them for a mere second as her transformation technique quickly turned her appearance into his. Running off into the dunes and following the last survivor.

Verdandi's clone however stared at the pathetic remains of the crawling enemies. Chibi or not. Her powers were potent enough to cast an ice technique that would quickly raise one of Verdandi's signature movements. The ice spikes would raise from below and start to impale those who still tried to stand up. The first two were directly impaled into their own belly and guts. Bleeding slowly to death. The remaining four just cowered there in fear for Haka and Chigetsu to find them this way. Chibi Verdandi could feel that her lifespan was over. Verdandi's real body was leaving the distance perimeter that allowed her to exist. Before she vanished she'd slowly trot towards Chigetsu. Hug him and make him lean a bit down to kiss his cheek before her Hyouton slowly turned into simple, cool water and would be absorbed into his cheek, refreshing him once more.

Verdandi, under the disguise of a bandit herself. Would make sure to keep a neat distance to the person that would ultimately lead her to the hidden encampment of the bandits. It would take not all too long until they reached their destination. The bandit slowly ran directly towards a mountain ridge. One seemingly made of nothing but rock and sand dunes. As they reached the point where he would stop, he'd casually ask Verdandi "Did we lose them? Oh god… I hope they didn't follow us." He'd say and Verd would just lift her right palm and act as if she was out of breath and too exhausted to talk. Watching closely how the bandit pressed a few hidden buttons in what seemingly appeared to be a rock formation until a secret passage opened itself.

Stepping in behind the guy, Verd could see inside, a huge enemy base concealed beneath the rock of the mountain. A large gate to protect the secret fortress entrance was not far behind the hidden passages entry point. Before the bandit could move any further. Verd would hit him on his neck with the back of her blade the very moment she undid her disguise. Knocking him out cold. Closing the entrance. Noting down the code he typed to gain entry and slowly dragging the body off away from sight quickly.

When Verdandi finally sent a radio call to her squad mates. They should have dealt with the remaining wounded bandits as they saw fit. Meanwhile Verdandi was setting up a new camp. Carving it into another cave not too far away from the hidden, secret passage but in a fair enough distance to not be snooped by patrols immediately. Verd had already called for her personal messenger raven. Sending their current progress and success on their mission in towards headquarters. Including number of bandits encountered, current location and coordinates as well as the code to enter all into a coded message.

They squad would have time to catch up. Avalanche would offer Haka and Chi to ride him to their destination as they had to lead him, the coordinates Verdandi shared over her radio were also encrypted by either of them would figure out the numbers code quickly. The make-shift camp she had created looked completely the same as the first. Firewood, yet unlit, in the centre of things. Icy entrance gate. Dark cave as main housing. Some thick ice cubes in the corner for anyone in need of fresh comfort.

Verdandi herself had been busy stripping the captured bandit from every weapon he had. Putting a thick firm clothing piece as a gag in his mouth and then would continue to freeze him from his toes up to his neck into an ice prison technique. Waiting to see if any of her Team mates would have ways to get some proper information that could be useful out of him.

In time, Verdandi would receive message from mission headquarters. The reason why the squad had been sent to this low-level mission together would be revealed. A new B-Ranked order was set to command them to move on forth and destroy the very camp they had scouted. However, they should wait first, it said. As supposedly an 'expert' had been dispatched to meet up with the Squad at the very coordinates Verdandi had delivered.

If the team would catch up. They would have plenty of time to rest. It would take at least a full day until the expert would reach their position. Leaving plenty of time to play a bit around and recover their strength to full. Obviously. Once Verdandi would show the mission details to her squad members. They would realize that they would need all the energy they could muster up after all. However, as Verd would explain how the whole hidden camp was inside the mountain, it was at least properly covered in shadows. Hence it would be pretty cool in there compared to how they were exposed to direct sunlight.

Verdandi would lean back into Avalanche. Offering Chi and or Haka to join in on some cuddles to cool them down. Knowing well that Chi had been overly sensitive about being close to her lately while Haka herself wasn't the biggest fan of all those cooling techniques. Verd would keep exhaling a large portion of chakra to keep anyone within her vicinity in casual temperature. And if one would get bored there was still basically the prisoner to deal with. Extorting as much information from the camp as possible could end up crucial to their cause.


Verd WC: 1130 / 2290
Total Thread WC: [5070]

Chakra 125/200:

Haka would take her time to devour her prey. The venom she had injected in the body needed some time to soften up her victim, while the cooler area of the cavern was a much needed respite from the heat outside. The others had run off, giving the entire cavern under her control and allowing her to remain undisturbed in her feeding. All there would be was the cool darkness of the cave and the mystical chakra mist covering any activity as it dissipated under the burning touch of the sun's rays. Just for a moment, the spider could forget she was in Sunagakure and would be enjoying that brief moment of peace at its fullest. Her potent venom had taken care of her prey, the strong paralysis working through his entire body, possibly even killing him in the process. With him webbed and paralysed, she could start her slow feeding process, which would leave Verdandi to chasing them and Chi to dealing with the four captured bandits on his own.

---

Finishing her meal, Haka would shift back into her human form and move out of the cave. Chigetsu and the snow bear would still be there, the radio crackling as Verdandi had succeeded at infiltrating the bandit fortress. A new base would be formed and the coordinates were shared. Hopping on Avalanche's back, the three remaining members would move towards the base, tracking footprints and using the coordinates to find back Verdandi in the new base she had build up. Once again, an ice gate would reveal the presence of the ice princess, giving away the fact they had reached the right spot. The camp would otherwise hold little to talk about, with the exception of a gagged bandit who wasn't looking all too happy with the state he found himself in or with the growing size of people surrounding him. Haka's monstrous aura and apathetic gaze would instantly affect the hairs on his arms, its presence a wordless whispering to his mind he would not live to see the night.

Haka would take a seat before him, her wolf spider nature making her... watch him. Her red amber eyes would not leave his for a single second. Even when they were informed of a new B rank mission, Haka would just nod and watch him with the eerie silence and unbelievable patience inherent to her arachnid nature. She wasn't hungry anymore, but that didn't mean she couldn't make him feel uncomfortable. Information was to be gathered from this man. Additionally stressing his mind, softening it up was not a bad idea. The moment he decided that the aura was not all that impressive, Haka would slowly take out her obsidian kunai, pushing his mind into a state of worry again. Then wait. When he'd allow himself to get over that worry, she'd move closer and caress his cheek with the blade as she flashed him a wry smile before she whispered with a cold, soft tone to him that, in combination with the chilled air, the monstrous aura and the danger he found himself in would only add to the whole theme of impending doom.

"We ask, you answer. Satisfy our curiosity or we'll satisfy our artistic carvings."

Her words hit a snare, seeing as his eyes suddenly grew big with fear. Gagged, he didn't say anything. In fact, he didn't react at all as he was too caught up in the fearful scenarios his mind was weaving around him. The apathetic gaze with which she stared at him also helped in bringing the serious situation he found himself in, not the slightest hint of a smile to be seen on the face of his captors. It was to be seen if he'd spill the beans but with Chigetsu being so morbid it wouldn't take too long before the man realised talking was a better option than suffering a nightmare far worse than death itself. Certainly if his screams would end up muffled by Haka's Quietus jutsu if she felt the need to do so. The only sound she'd allow is the sound of his fear and that of his answers.

---

[EXIT]

709
Total: 2266
Thread Total: 5776

Training:

Chigetsu signed as the bandits all dashed on past the exist again. Apparently, whatever Haka had done had terrified them all more than he did with his potshots. That wasn't all too surprising, given how he looked like he was about to faint. The sun was getting to his head. He was already unearthly pale, as if the color had all drained from his face. While Chigetsu was never all that tall, he certainty couldn't use any advantage in height to help with the intimidation anymore. Wasting any more hydration to shoot at their ankles would have been a supremely bad choice. Chigetsu would lower his arm as he saw their backs, letting out a long sigh. His job at this point was over, although really, he probably didn't need to contribute at all. The way Verdandi sent out her little ice birds to harass them as they fled provoked a little chuckle from Chigetsu now though. Taking pleasure in the little things was necessary in a place like this.  

Chigetsu would keep on the tail of the chibi-clone Verdandi as the real one ran off. The sudden disemboweling of the tripped guards would snap his attention back to the pathetic group of raiders. He would break out into laughter as he saw the spears piercing through the two men, unable to hold himself back. His hoarse laughter at the event was maybe a sign that the heat was beginning to really start to mess with his head, but even if that was the case Chigetsu would now be in much higher spirits than he had been earlier. Now smiling as he wiped his forehead clean of sweat, he would be beaming down with a smile at the four captured men. Fear would be clear on their faces, and the low rumbling laughter and sickly-sweet smile that came from the boy were enough to illuminate their fates to them. Blood from their impaled allies soaked into the sands, seeping outwards in a quickly drying puddle. Chigetsu would be prepared to inflict his unique flavor of death upon these men, and there would be little to nothing they could do to resist it. Their struggled attempts to return to standing and continue to flee would be immediate failures. Chigetsu had already taken care to prevent any running. Liquid from his body had seeped down into the sands, running underground in a current that connected to the bloody mess that surrounded them. Rivulets of blood sloshed with sand created a binding that forced their bodies back down into the sand.  

He was, however, interrupted before he could begin to torture these unfortunate four. The chibi-clone, who he nearly had forgotten about in these moments leading up to the executions, had approached him. It was easy to feel her getting closer in this heat. Being as sensitive as Chigetsu was to minute changes in temperature it was hard to not feel the distinct chill she gave off. Just as he would be about to turn and face her the little Verdandi would reach up to wrap her arms around him in a sudden hug. The physical contact would send a wave of her frosty aura into him. It was heavenly when compared with the heatstroke he had been experiencing before it, and despite being a bit flustered Chigetsu would relax into the hug. He could take the time to relax, as the men he had on the ground weren't going anywhere. As the clone urged him down he would kneel, and once he was on the same level as it the chibi-Verdandi would plant a kiss on his cheek. Even though it was only a clone he became incredibly flustered, a redness spreading over his pale visage. The frosty-cool water that had composed the clone would flow into him through the kiss, and the clone would seem to melt as it did. The kiss would continue until the last of the water from the clone absorbed into him, at which point he would stumble back. Completely rehydrated and refreshed, Chigetsu felt a lot better, but the burning heat in his cheeks refused to disappear.  

He had almost forgot about the facedown bandits after all of that. His initial plan was to drain them dry and use their bodily fluids to refresh himself, but that was hardly necessary now. With his mind still spinning, he would take care of the men like the afterthoughts that they were. He would will the soaked sand that bound them into their mouths, and then pull their entire bodies underground. They would end up suffocating quickly, but to make sure there weren't any attempts at a second wind Chigetsu would stay to watch and ensure they all suffocated in the soaked sands. Standing there in the sands waiting for those men to die would give Haka enough time to finish whatever it was she had been doing in the cave. He didn't think to question what took her so long. There were other things on his mind. With Haka and Avalanche apparently ready to go, Chigetsu would be off too. He couldn't blame either of them. Staying out too long in this heat would be the end of all of them.

The crackling of the radio seemed to confirm that Verdandi had been successful. Haka and Chigetsu would hop onto Avalanche's back and quickly speed off in the direction of the coordinates that had been given to them. Their journey would be swift and silent, without much idle conversation shared between Haka and Chigetsu. Their arrival at Verdandi's improvised camp would see much more activity. The captured bandit would be given a single sideways glance by Chigetsu before he would pass onwards. Torture was definitely something he was capable of, but his general inexperience with it would have probably led to this man having a messy and unfortunate death. As Haka took the initiative he would leave it entirely to her. Instead he would find a comfortable place to rest. The pleasant refrigeration effect that Verdandi was giving to the entire area made it so that he didn't have to invade her personal space in order to keep cool, and so Chigetsu would take a seat on the cave floor beside Avalanche. The fluffy snowbear would be leaned against as he watched Haka do her magic. The performance that she was doing in order to tease the information out of the man was eagerly watched by Chigetsu. The irritation and frustration from the environment awoke a particularly sadistic part of the male, and he enjoyment at having a stress ball to squeeze here was obviously written on his face. From his position against Avalanche he would smile at the man. Once he had been drained of information, Chigetsu would take his time draining him of everything else.

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Training:

Verdandi saw that her Squad mates were doing quite well on their own and could easily keep themselves busy. She would not ask what happened to either of the bandits she had left behind. She was certain that she didn't wish to know about that. Avalanche got a soft refresher of his own cooling by the simple touch of Verdandi's palm before he found himself a cozy corner and soon ended up cuddling with Chi whom he had known since Ava was a little cub bear. Licking idly away at Chigetsu's cheek before dozing off into a comfortable nap. The cave had a lot of Hyouton walls in certain parts that would shut it off from obvious distinctive findings as only those who would be searching for ice in the sandy reaches of the desert would obviously see that unnaturally existence between the rock formations of the mountain caves. Verd picked up a few scrolls. She made sure that the answer she got from HQ about their next mission was to be passed around to Haka and Chi so they were aware that phase two was incoming for the lot of them and whom they might be waiting for.

While Haka could professionally work her way into the Squad's frost prisoned guest, Chi and Ava were resting. Allowing Verdandi some own free time. She took the remaining scrolls with her and some basic pencils. Moving one cave deeper into the mountain she would casually create a bathtub made of ice, fill it with suiton water and create a protective wall of frost behind her. Its thickness wouldn't necessarily make her invisible behind it but blurry enough to censor her private parts as she undressed and slowly sank with her body into the tub. She would try to focus on drawing a draft of the entrance she had seen when she followed the bandit to the secret door way. Using the drawing to support her memory as she was clearly searching to find certain holes and security failures in the structure. She tried to understand how the expert was supposed to help the lot of them gain proper entry into the large structure but she wasn't quite sure how he wished to do so and where they could actually force themselves through. Taking the mountain fortress would be an admirable feat and victory but it had to be properly prepared.

Verd contemplated many paths and even found a few weak spots on the large iron gate where the explosives would most likely do their largest impact in order to completely demolish the entrance. There seemed to be no way around it so Verd was wondering how to deal with the reactive forces of the fortress once they could actually get past the gate. They would need some sort of traps to be set up… maybe creating some clones that would distract the forces and attack those while the real squad would hide and prepare their ambush. She would have to contemplate this with her squad members. But for now, she sighed sinking into the water of her tub before just joyfully relaxing and cleaning herself off the dust or sand that was sticking to her body despite the film of ice she usually had clinging over her skin to protect herself from the heat.

After about half an hour Verd would raise from the tub. Use her suiton control to remove all water petals from her skin and dry herself the way she once learned it from Haka. Preparing to return to the main room of their makeshift camp.

[EXIT]


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