paixaorpg | Don't like the look of this... [complete]

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Don't like the look of this... [complete]

Characters: Reepicheep, Zetsu, Itachi, and Kir
Content: Versus the Dusks! An epic battle!! .... *cough* Seriously, just some Dusks happening upon Reep and Zetsu. Also some appearances by Itachi and Kir.
Setting: Vanaheim area
Time: Late morning
Warnings: None

"By the lion's mane! What are those things?" Reepicheep exclaimed.

What he had scoffed at were a trio of grayish, somewhat humanoid creatures - but of course they weren't human, for humans didn't look like they were basically empty shells. They were Nobodies, a couple of Dusks to be exact - but of course Reep didn't know that.

The Dusks started to surround both Reep and Zetsu, dancing around in their odd manner. Reepicheep twirled around, trying to keep an eye on all of them. "Are you friend or are you foe?" he asked the Dusks. "If you're friend, then we mean you no harm, and if you're foe then I suggest you leave already!"

He drew out his rapier, in the case that the latter choice was true about these things...

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Not that they weren't human, but rather, they used to be. Having lost heart and searching to return to a true form, the Nobodies would sometimes become confused, following a stronger Nobody who could command them. Though the Nobodies knew naught of good or evil, they followed orders, not knowing consequences.

At first it was one. One lowly, curious Dusk came toward the pair. The taller one was indeed much taller than the short brown one. It seemed to make more sense to inspect the smaller one, due to its size nearly matching to the Nobody. But it knew malice in voice and spirit when it saw the small brown mouse pull out a long, pointed weapon and shout threateningly.

Then it became three. Three Dusks were called and surrounded them. They leered at Zetsu and Reepicheep, dancing their little wiggles, and showing off that large, sinister, empty mouth. Then, they struck.

The first Nobody stood where it was, as the other two leapt for the pair, one for each person, spinning with their arms out, aiming to attack the troubled partners.

"Foe it is, then!" said Reepicheep. He'd been hoping the two of them could have gone without fighting anybody - but if these strange creatures wanted to battle, then so be it! Far be it from him to back down from a challenge such as this! The fact that the Nobodies were bigger than him didn't faze him in the least.

"Come, dear companion, let us battle these creatures!" Reep shouted to Zetsu, before charging straight at the Dusk closest to him.

Zetsu didn't bother drawing any kind of weapon; he preferred to fight from a distance and preserve his own safety. Besides, he really couldn't see any vital points a sword would be too effective against; these.... things gave the impression of being hollow, or something similar. If they were hollow then, why would there be any point in focusing on trying to go in close? The trick here, if he thought correctly, would be to incapacitate them somehow, render them helpless, and overwhelm them with brute force.

We are a dear companion now? One side wondered, amused in spite of himself. We've hardly met....

Better two against three than one, yes? The other countered, sensibly enough. He is right in one thing: we must focus on foes now.

Zetsu didn't jump back from the Dusk coming at him, or charge to meet it. Rather, he went straight down, sinking into the earth as swiftly and seamlessly as a dolphin coming down from a leap. His leaves snapped shut as he disappeared, his hands already moving to form the seals to concentrate on working his jutsus. By the time the plant ninja reappeared in a safer spot, he was bringing both hands up, urging two vines studded with not insignificant thorns to burst from the ground and snap towards both the still Dusk and the one that had been intend on attacking him, fully intending to snare them like boa constrictors.

It was more difficult to work here, in his opinion, in a place with no true plants already there to command.... In a place rich with life, he would have been much more in his element. He would just have to make due for now, though.... Zetsu spared a glance to check on his erstwhile partner, hoping he was faring well--if not for Reep's safety, then because he'd prefer not to face so many of these things alone.

One of the Dusks glided forward to the small brown Complete. While the steps were smooth the body contorted and twitched with rapid jerks. A weapon was drawn and the small thing came running at it. The Dusk dropped to the ground, pooling around the rat's feet and swiveled its body. The Dusk would move around the rat's feet much like a wheel, before righting itself behind him to raise a hand and bang it against the intended target. Dusks knew only a few tricks, and this was one of them.

The other two Dusks went to work on the taller of the two Completes. The one which had moved towards the plantlike one found itself... not with him. In animalistic confusion, the Dusk turned its head, but found the ground erupting into vines and torns. Flailing, the creature was stuck, but not defeated.

The last of the trio was a bit luckier, having launched itself into the air before the plants exploded from the ground. Then it drifted down slowly, aiming for where the taller Complete was.

Reepicheep swung his rapier out in front of him, fully expecting to stab the Dusk, but -- nothing. Absolutely nothing, except for the fact that his sword met no resistance as it went through nothing but air. The Dusk was gone, or so he thought.

"Ho!" So these things had tricks up their proverbial sleeves, eh? This would certainly make things interesting; and Reepicheep didn't mind that, as he thought his battle skills had been getting a bit rusty anyways. Voyaging around while encountering few enemies for a while tended to do that to people.

When he saw the Dusk finally reappear in his vision, behind him (!!), he then whirled around on his feet and swung his rapier at the Nobody's hand; thankfully his reflexes hadn't dulled in the least. He needed to get into a position where he could actually stab the Dusk, but first he had to make sure that no part of him was about to get clawed off or whatever this creature had planned to do.

The snarl Zetsu wore was almost animalistic itself as the vine wrapped the first Dusk in its crushing grip. A quick flick of the hand sent the end of the vine snaking down into the Dusk's gaping mouth, lashing like a trapped snake to bring its thorns to bear, and try to tear the Dusk apart from the inside out.

He had to consider his options, here: his blowgun would be useless. Kunais might help, but probably not much. Relying exclusively on his jutsus here as he normally did would likely be tiring, but it seemed to be his best plan of action at the time. With that in mind, the second vine snapped up and out to defend him; rather than a snare, though, he was using it more like a bullwhip, fully intending to send it face-first into the ground as hard and fast as it could go.

Itachi was going to great pains to try and draw as little attention to himself as possible as he tried to get his bearings in this strange city. It was, perhaps, the most basic thing he had evern learned at the shinobi academy in Konoha, to avoid drawing attention to himself at all costs. After all, ninja noticed for who and what they were often didn't live long enough to cover the blatant tracks that had gotten them caught to begin with. It was just a shame that he had to continue changing directions because of strange creatures up ahead. He had already encountered one, and came to realise that going about killing things would surely draw attention to himself.

Up ahead of him, he could sense the chakra signature of another ninja, though all he saw was a rather large venus fly trap, or so he thought. Whatever it might be, it was fighting two of those strange creatures he had been avoiding. And there was something else fighting a third.

Not getting involved seemed like a good idea to the Uchiha prodigy, at least until they had taken care of those creatures. It was their fight, after all, and Itachi fought no one's battles but his own. Well, except for Sasuke's, but Sasuke never knew that he had battles to fight.

Speaking of which, perhaps these folk could help him find his little brother?

Both Dusks were met with physical opposition. They tumbled away from the two Completes, rolling across the ground, before picking themselves up. They moved with one goal, to destroy. As soon as they stood, both Dusks once again moved towards their targets.

Again, a Dusk moved towards the mouse. It would play the same trick as before, to get close and then drop and swirl on the ground. The second Dusk would mimic, moving towards the plant and pull the same rabbit out of the provberbial hat, to try and get around him.

There was a third party, in the form of the prodigy Complete. And even a fourth, in the form of the Samurai Nobodies. Unlike their Dusk counterparts, these Nobodies lingered on the fringes of the fight. There were six of them, and they were moving slowly towards the group. They broke into groups of two, moving in after the Dusks.

If the Completes managed to defeat the Dusks, they would find themselves facing the Samurai. Nobodies that appeared to be slow, but they could strike quickly, and ferociously. Itachi Uchiha would have little to no choice about whether or not he would be involved in this fight.

Reepicheep dared to take half a moment to look at Zetsu to see how he was doing; his whiskers then quivered as he caught a glimpse of something else - the Samurai Nobodies. Have these things called for allies somehow, then? These new things looked similar, and yet were markedly different from the Dusks.

A pity that he didn't have the time to scope them out even more, for the next moment later his foe had once again seemed to get away from him. He grit his teeth together and eyed the Dusk warily, watching its movements as he stepped towards it again. He blinked as he watched it disappear into a puddle--

Ah, wait a moment! So was that how it had disappeared from him last time? Tricky move indeed - but not tricky enough if that was the only move it would do. Sooner or later Reep would get the upper hand...possibly now if he could help it.

He watched the silver puddle glide silently by and nimbly turned around to meet his foe head-on when it reappeared, swinging his sword straight at it with the intent to...well, he'd be lucky if it was to kill, considering that the Dusk was larger than him. He at least had the intent to bring it down enough to where he could finish it off.

Zetsu growled quietly as the Nobody came after him again. Stubborn little thing, wasn't it? Time to end it for good, then, once and for wall.... He made a few handseals and closed his hand into a fist; the vine still free groaned and writhed as it thickened into a considerably stouter, sharpened tree root. Zetsu pointed, then crooked his finger; the root obediently shot out to impale the Dusk, then rose up to go after the second, still suspended in midair; whether the first would be torn in half, or lifted into the air, he didn't care either. Just as long as he killed them....

In spite of the seriousness of the battle, Zetsu was smiling, just a little, vivid yellow eyes quite literally glowing. His other half, evidently, was enjoying himself quite a bit. Who said killing couldn't be fun?

The handseals that Zetsu used confirmed who, of them, was the source of the chakra signature Itachi had followed. He didn't recognize the jutsu, nor its effects. However, he was sure that he didn't want to be on the bad side of the other shinobi, no matter how strange he might be in appearance. At least, some of those strange creatures were on his bad side.

And speaking of which, Itachi was sure that there was something else there, something that was also watching this fight. He wasn't certain of what it was, but he wasn't going to stir it to action, either. After all, it wasn't wise to lay out his entire hand before he knew what the game was.

So, Itachi contented himself to continue watching, intent on going to speak to the ninja and his companion after they had concluded their fight.

A-ah. The Dusk found itself slashed again. Tumbling away, it flattened to the ground and slowly disappeared. It was no match for this group, it appeared.

The second Dusk found itself more than just slashed. A root rocketed from the ground and tore through it. Finally it was torn in two. All of the dusks had been 'killed', in that they finally ceased to exist.

However, now, there were the Samurai Nobodies. Three distinct groups, pairs, each had moved relatively close to the three individuals who were standing there. They would not make the first move. But as soon as there was any indication of an attack, they would spring to action, so to speak.

Reepicheep would have liked for his victory to be complete, and he started running after the Dusk. However, it's rather hard to run after something that's disappeared in such a way as it's impossible to follow. A look of disappointment flashed across the mouse's face when he saw that there was no more sign of the Dusk, not even the faintest trace. He looked at the approaching Samurai Nobodies, which really had gotten too close for comfort now, and seemed to come to a decision of sorts.

"Sir Zetsu," he said after a moment, glancing at the strange plant-man. The fur on his neck rose slightly, for he had caught the look on Zetsu's face as he'd been battling. Like a demon, almost! "If you don't mind, I'd like to hear your counsel in this matter. I hope you shan't think me a coward, for you seem to enjoy battling very much (at least from what I spied), but what say you to drawing back for now?" He kept a wary gaze on the Nobodies, in case they should attack; for now they didn't seem to be even doing so much as raising a finger. "It might be the wiser thing to do, given our situation."

He knew his limits, usually; and right now, it felt to him as though he would definitely breach them if he tried going against these Nobodies, whom he'd never fought before and whose style he wasn't aware of. Though it wasn't just that, it was also this: Zetsu was still here, but the thought of leaving (or feeling like he was leaving) most of the fighting to his companion when he himself was still able and walking around on his own two feet was a shameful thought indeed.

Zetsu stood savoring the victory, eyes flashing brighter still with adrenaline as he watched the Samurais approach. He turned his head as Reep spoke, leaves rustling as they dipped down so he could more easily speak with the mouse. "There is no cowardice in retreating when needed." He commented simply, tone neutral for the most part. He stood almost statuesque after it though, gaze distant and unfocused, still and silent as he thought about their options. Choose now to live and run away, and fight again some other day. They have not yet attacked us.

They will. Oh, they will.... See their swords, they fight up close as well, and we do not. They have no chance.

There are many of them, and Reepicheep wishes to not fight.

Many? There are four! One more than before. We can take them. Are we afraid?

Never--wait. Did you sense that? In the lull before the potential battle, Zetsu had finally picked up on the other chakra signature in the area, and turned his head to trace it, eyes finally coming to rest on Itachi with a spark of recognition and brief confusion. There are six now. What happened to him? Where are his robes?

It doesn't matter; he could easily handle two. The odds are better than ever! He is here, and he should be fighting as well. We will rip them to asunder, we will watch them fall, we'll slaughter them before they have time to scratch us....

The adrenaline and bloodlust from the battle still lingered, and the encouragement from that side of him ended the debate. A slow, sinister smile spread over his face, revealing curved thorn-like teeth that looked distinctly inhuman. "You may leave if you wish, Reepicheep; it does not seem they would follow. But we.... we will kill them for their presumption!" His hands moved again, with brutal efficiency; the lingering root lanced straight for the nearest Samurai, while a half dozen vines burst from the ground behind the pairs approaching Reep and himself to snare them. If nothing else, the distraction would easily be enough to let Reep escape if he wanted to.

Itachi was more than aware of the creatures that had closed the distance between themselves and him. He was equally aware that he was probably going to have no choice but to fight them. After all, the smaller of the creatures had been hostile, what was to say that these larger ones wouldn't be.

I have to be careful with this, he thought as he turned to face the two creatures that had approached. He smirked as he sized them up, before going through hand seals and ending on the Tiger seal. Gokakyuu no Jutsu. Taking a deep breath, the shinobi blew and created a relatively large fireball which he threw at the creatures before him.

As the fireball flew at the Samurai, Itachi counted his blessings that he was familiar enough with Gogakyuu to not have to speak its name. And even as the first jutsu was heading for the target, he was considering what his next course of action should be.

Vines. Rat. ... fire.

It took a brief moment before the Samurai Nobodies reacted. They seemed slow to act, but in reality it was just that they only needed that split second to move. Those who were going to attack Reep saw the vines as they burst through the ground and acted by drawing their swords to slice them. One of the Samurai found itself able to avoid most of the vines, the other was less lucky.

For the Samurai who found itself attacked by Zetsu, the same fast slashing technique was employed. Dicing the vine as it moved towards it. Easy enough targets, it had decided.

The slow moving Samurai raised a sword to block the fire. This wouldn't completely dispel it, but perhaps buy it some time before a fiery death. These would be harder to kill than the Dusks.

(ooc: gah, this might be a little late, considering that the Nobody plot is over...sorry about that, I meant to post this earlier, but my brain died before I could finish. D:)

Itachi's fireball startled Reep quite a bit, for up until then he'd not noticed the young man there at all, having had his attention on other things. Was there some other enemy lurking nearby, waiting to singe both him and Zetsu with fire? But wait, no, the fireball's target seemed to be the Samurais; so did that mean that whoever was there was on his and Zetsu's side?

If he is indeed on our side, then thank Aslan! We could use the help, he thought, heaving a small sigh of relief. But now Reepicheep had a small moral quandary going on; if Zetsu and this mysterious person were still fighting, then of course his honor wouldn't allow him to just sit back and idly watch...

Then again, common sense told him that he'd probably be risking his own life if he suddenly charged at one of the Nobodies. What with the vines, and the sudden appearence of fireballs, he wondered if he'd just end up roasted and wrapped up, even on accident. The mouse's paw twitched and fidgeted with the handle of his sword before he came to a decision, even though it pained him to come to it.

No cowardice in running away...even so, it felt like the biggest dishonor in the world. But...

His paws felt somewhat heavy as he turned his back and retreated. Should Zetsu or that other person need any help, though, he would certainly be there in a flash.

Zetsu flinched back involuntarily as he saw the fire, despite the fact that he'd been expecting it--you just didn't toy with something that could so easily consume you, especially when it almost had.... He still had bitter memories toward his classmates for that incident. But now.... now was the time to let Itachi do his work with it, not fear it; the shinobi was on his side.

These things were fast.... surprisingly fast, considering that they weren't body flickering. Several of his vines were sliced to pieces, but a few managed to snare one; he wasted no time in tearing that Samurai limb from limb with them, not in any mood to mess around.

They were obviously too fast to catch easily with the vines, and he really didn't relish the thought of going hand-to-hand with them; he just wasn't the sort who favored close combat. Zetsu's hands slashed through the air, offering a few quick and vicious seals that summoned up a maelstrom of razor-edged leaves swirling through the air in a dangerously unpredictable fashion. He'd like to see them dodge those....

Itachi seemed disappointed to see that the Samurai before him had opted for blocking the fire, rather than actually dodging. He would have thought that a creature, no matter how strange in appearance, would instinctively get out of the way of something like that. The young ANBU captian frowned as he started reevaluating that assumption.

In the time it took him to make the new assessment, Itachi had decided that the Sharingan was unneeded. A wise shinobi did not expend all of their chakra, espeicllay not needlessly, and as such there was really no point in fueling his bloodline when he didn't need it.

Itachi's hands went through handseals, practically on their own, building up to a familiar jutsu--Housenka no Jutsu, the Mythical Fire Flower technique. He spoke the name softly, before throwing the fireballs at the Samurai before him. With enough of them, he was sure, they wouldn't be able to block or dodge them.

Oh.

There seemed to be either sudden defeat or realization in the Samurai Nobodies. Together they slumped, as if on strings and someone had cut them. Shoulders bowed inward, hunched and compacted. The swords were sheathed quickly.

The fireballs Itachi sent at the Nobodies would have caught them and burned them to a crisp... probably. However, all of the Samurai seemed to sidestep, winking out of existence with the same efficiency as a ninja.

Reepicheep had found himself a hiding spot nearby (though it was more of just a regular "spot", since he'd still been in plain view), and was barely phased when he saw the Samurais disappearing. Considering the way the Nobody he'd been fighting had gone out, it made sense to him that these would go in a similar way. Though it had been done in a rather unorthodox manner, it meant the fight was over, or would be over in a moment - after all, without any opponents there was no sense in battling any more.

The mouse slowly approached the two remaining figures, whiskers drooping. He stopped some distance away and fell to one knee (or whatever the closest equivalent was that he could do) and bowed to the two ninjas (mostly in Zetsu's direction, though). He felt like apologizing profusely to them for what he'd done, and he would do so once he was sure he had their attention.

Zetsu allowed himself a smug smile as the Nobodies backed down, noting their disappearance with interest. It didn't seem to be any kind of jutsu; it looked more akin to a natural ability. He rather doubted it was a bloodline, though--they frankly didn't look smart enough to know how to use one even if they had one, even if he knew better than to underestimate based on appearance. Besides, he had to wonder why they hadn't used it on himself nad Itachi, if they'd had one at their disposal. Speaking of his teammate....

"Itachi." The plant ninja called as he turned to him, again giving the young man a once over. Again, the oddness of his outfit struck him--it was odd in that it was completely mundane. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Itachi dressed that way.... "What are you doing, trying to go undercover? Where are your robes and ring?" Not nearly so important, but still related--why wasn't he wearing his nail polish? And.... wait.... Zetsu looked even more taken aback as he realized that Itachi's headband was whole and intact, missing the deep scratch he knew should be running straight through the middle. What was going on, here?

Zetsu had to be thankful for being able to sense things through plants; his leaves caught a glimpse of Reep coming up behind him and kneeling, even as he was studying Itachi intently. He turned curiously, lowering his gaze to the Narnian warrior and giving him a quick look-over. "You aren't hurt, are you?" No, he didn't think any of them were. He'd have smelled the blood if they had. He liked that smell.... But it was always best to not smell it on your comrades--if not for their health, then to keep it firmly in your mind that they were allies, not appetizers.

Kir had long since given up on trying to figure out the complicated contraption inside his locket. It didn't help that his fingers didn't seem nearly as nimble as he'd watched Jing's be. Instead picked a random direction to walk in, hoping against hope he'd just run into his missing companion by sheer force of dumb luck.

So far it hadn't worked, but dumb luck was a mighty force to be reckoned with.

There didn't seem to be many people around, so when he noticed a small group of people, he couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. Maybe they would know how to find Jing, and how to get out of this place.

"Hey...?"

With the Nobodies gone, Itachi seemed to relax visibly. He was still aware of everything around him, of course. What ninja wasn't? But he wasn't as on edge as he had been with the Nobodies around. He turned, on instinct, upon hearing his name. And it was after the action had already been made that he realized that he truly did not know who this ninja was.

"I'm sorry?" he offered after taking a moment to contemplate exactly what he had been asked. "I don't know what you're talking about..."

Itachi counted himself lucky that the mouse he had seen drew the plant ninja's attention away from him. Of course, it didn't hurt that someone new had joined them. Ah, ample opportunity for a distraction.

"Hello there." A simple greeting, but that was all Itachi would offer in such a situation. He was, after all, still among strangers.

"Do any of you know what this place is? And where did all those pale people go? And do you know how to find someone? I've misplaced my partner, and who knows what sort of trouble he'll get into without any supervision..."

The former albatross tended to ramble when he was distracted, and being turned into a human was quite distracting. Then he cocked his head to one side in a manner that was still remarkably avian as he took in their postures. "Jeez, what's with you guys? You look like you're ready to fight or something."

He had, of course, missed the Nobodies which had just disappeared. If he'd known, he probably still would have been as tactless, but at least this way it was unknowing.

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Don't like the look of this... [complete]

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