by Chapter four: New Bloods.
Bano held the lantern outstretched as far as he could from his body as it illuminated the cave and the path before him. He looked over his shoulder to make sure the four young Ishi new bloods were keeping up with his pace and sure enough, with excitement on every face, they were. There were three boys and one girl that followed in single file, the girl had hooked a finger around Bano's belt sticking her tongue out at him as they went.
“Don't expect any special treatment when I hand you over to Toshii.” Bano mumbled down to her.
“I won’t!” she almost sung the words as it took all her restraint to keep from jumping from joy. The new found armor on the new bloods left arm made keeping up with Bano more of a pain then they made it seem as they stiffly rushed along the damp cold floor almost tripping up with every few steps. At the very end of the line was the youngest of the four, Rak, he kept his forces to the back of them as he swore he could hear the echoes of some giant monster. Rak shook his head has he pulled himself along, his left arm grabbing at the wall to make sure he did fall in the dark.
They came at last to the end of the long narrow cave as it opened up to a massive dome with several more pathways that all looked the same. Bano unhooked the girl from him and handed her the lantern. “Go light the other lights.” he told her pointing to the other lamps that were placed in a circle around the dome like cave. She nodded and ran off leaving the others in the dark; Bano gave it a moment to see if any of them would start to freak out with not being able to see. Satisfied he lit a small fire in his hand
“Why do we need a lantern if you can do that?” The tallest boy commented, his arms crossed over his chest with a smug look on his face as if he had outsmarted the Yamakage by thinking of it.
“Now, now, Koorm, can you make fire?” Bano asked with a smile and a shrug.
“No” Koorm said back a bit confused.
“Then that's why we have a lantern, this is your test, not mine. The only reason I made a fire is because I see no point for myself to stand in the dark.”
Koorm's smug look vanished as he found a large rock and flopped down on it. “You could have just lit the lights yourself at least.”
“Are you in a rush? Do you have somewhere to go?” Rak shot at him “It's not like you're the one having to run around doing it.” he finished as Koorm gave him a nasty look as if he was giving him a silent warning and Rak shook his head in frustration as he found him own rock to sit on.
The third boy walked slowly up to Bano
“Yes?” Bano asked, his eyes not even on the boy as he watched the girl move from light to light, the cave becoming easier to navigate in with every new one lit.
“Do you have another one? A lantern I mean, I feel bad having Areana do all the work.”
“No, I don't” Bano shook his head “Maybe next time” he patted the boy on the back, it made him feel good that one of the new team seemed like they wanted to work with the others and share the workload that was about to come their way. He let the fire in his hand go out as Areana lit the last lamp, every inch of the cave now filled with a bright light leaving no darkness.
“Alright.” Bano clapped his hands as she rejoined the group finding a spot right at his feet. “From here on out, I wont be joining you. In fact, I'm about to leave you all alone. I want you all to wait here for Toshii; she is going to give you the training you need to last as an Ishi.” With a strong upward movement of his arm, all but one of the pathways blocked off as the earth came up and blocked them.
“If any of you wish to back out now, come with me.” He smiled and nodded as no one moved. “Okay, best of luck” He rushed for the exit before one of them could change there minds, it closed off as well when he passed it leaving the four new bloods to fend for themselves.
- - -
Toshii pulled the chains tighter around the dragon as Bano rounded the corner into the cavern room. Over the years, the beast had become submissive to her and the Ishi clan as a whole, but with the new additions, she was worried it would become confused and attack the new bloods. Toshii sighed as her hand rested on the side of the beast’s neck, she thought of it as a friend and now it was she chaining him up as if he was some brainless thing.
“Thank you” Bano said as he came into ear shot of her “It means a lot.”
“I'd rather not have more Ishi members dead, fresh or old.” She said nodding to him making sure one last time the chains around the dragon were set and would hold.
“He does not seem to be fighting it,” Bano sounded a bit happy as the thing seat there almost lifeless.
“Sleeping.” Toshii said, dismissing his happiness as she moved around to the back checking the last chain. “Will you be staying to see how they do?” She asked making her way back around as she dusted her hands off.
“I really can't.” Bano gave her a thumps down “Areana can feel AMP, she sucks at it, but she knows mine without a doubt.”
“So?”
“So! She does not want me around; something about it makes her feel like I'm trying to baby her.”
“Don't go easy on her then?” Toshii smiled a kind of evil smile
“Hit them all hard.” Bano nodded as he turned away throwing his hand up in a wave “They are right where you asked me to put them, have fun.” He called out as he vanished around the same corner that he had come in. Toshii looked back at the chains with a frown “I really hope those hold you big boy.”
- - -
The small boat slowly made its way on top of the murky waters as it entered the thick mist.
“Lucky one, you are!” Said the boatman with a toothy grin “You would have been lost in this forever without me.” he chuckled to himself softly not realizing that his passenger could just have easily gotten rid of the mist. Q just nodded with a smile flipping a gold coin into the air reminding the man that he needed him more then Q needed the ride.
“Never seen it this thick before” The boat man complained but to Q it was all the same and it looked like nothing but more and more mist that he could not see past. For a split second, it got so bad that he could really see nothing at all, not even the boat.
“What's wrong?” Q asked as the boat slowed to a standstill
“I can't move if I can't see anything.” came the reply from behind him.
“Let me fix that!” came the voice of a female from in front of Q as the mist around them jumped away leaving the boat and ten feet ahead of them clear.
“Hello, Raikage.”
“You're slow~” She smiled at him with a wink.
“You know, in my days we kages could not just leave our village on its own when we felt like it” Q winked back at her.
“Well, I have something for ya.” She pulled out a piece of paper with a bold signature of the Destinykil, the Mizukage. “It took forever to get, he kept trying to make me feel his arms...” She shuddered as she went on “He said he will only give it out once, even if he does want to fight it out with the other clans.” she dangled the signature in Q's face. “But this is where you ask how I know, well! Death and Dei came fighting over it on Lounge Island and that brings me to my last point.” She took a deep breath in. “I will only sign if we get a vacation on the island! We can go no-”
“I still need Clair's name” Q stopped her from talking herself to death.
“I told you were slow.” She threw up another paper with Clair's name written on it. “See! All done, I did most of your work for you and for that, I vote we go to the island.”
Q shrugged “I guess you win, we needed to hold a meeting before it all got started anyway, we can do it on Kage Island.”
Saba squealed with joy and paid the boatman herself to let them off, and gave him another ten coins to give the Mizukage a message to have him and the other kages come to Lounge Island.
- - -
“Welcome to your new second home, I hope you enjoy it.” Toshii said walking up to the small group of new bloods as the boys were in the middle of an arm wrestling contest. The only one to give Toshii any attention was Areana who just bowed and sighed at the boys who were to into what they were doing to even notice if they were on fire. Toshii's left hand became a hard fist as she took her right hand and grabbed hold of Koorm's hair yanking him back a good five feet. He hit the ground hard; Toshii came to stand over him as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. She pulled back her leg and came in with a hard kick to his side, reaching down she pulled him up buy the collar of his shirt. “Well.” She turned on the others who stood there shocked “I had a lot planed for you, but it really looks like you need some respect beat into you before we get to it.”
“I showed respect,” muttered Areana with a frown, her tone almost sounded depressed.
“That does not matter; you are all Ishi clan members now. You're a family; today's lesson is defending yourself.” Toshii said letting Koorm's body go, she kicked him hard again as he hit the ground sending him back over to the others, he held his sides unmoving at their feet.
Rak rushed in on Toshii as Areana and the other boy looked over Koorm trying to help him. He swung his left arm as hard as he could but it was clumsy, the Ishi armor threw him off balance. Toshii easily sidestepped his attack and tripped him up laughing at the sight as he crashed to the ground face first. The earth started to come up and enclosed around his hands and feet. Before she could make her next move she was attacked from behind, again she easily dodged the attack from the other boy but it did not stop him from throwing a few more kicks that only hit the air as Toshii ducked and moved around him. Toshii smiled as Areana came in from her right and the boy attacked with a roundhouse kick on her left, as he came around she grabbed his leg as if he were moving as slow as a turtle and with all her strength she pulled the boy around to her other side and used him as a shield. She could have sworn she could hear bone crack as the hit landed hard on his ribs, throwing him to the side she came in on Areana ready to put an end to the sad display of the poor inexperienced fighters. With her arm pulled back as far as it would go, she pulled it forward, she was shocked as her hand connected with Areana's armor; she had used it to block the incoming attack. Toshii saw the smirk on her face as her right arm came up and grabbed Toshii's left arm, Areana then came in with a spinning backhanded punch with her left arm. The attack sent Toshii stumbling back; her face had a large cut running up her check.
“Well, you know how to use it.” she gestured to the armor. “If any of you are still alive, I would start training more. The girl's better then all of you.” Toshii nodded at her with a smile. “We're done for now; go check on them.” Toshii looked on as the three boys tired to recover what little pride they had left huddling in a small corner letting Areana check for any serious wounds. It made her think of the day Bano had done the same to her small group of friends, she and the others had shown him disrespect and they paid for it just like the new bloods now did. “They are going to be just fine,” she muttered to herself as she wiped the blood from her cut away.
Suddenly a load roar echoed and the caves shook with it, Toshii bit her lip at the signs of the new bloods getting another brutal lesson that could end them forever.
Bano held the lantern outstretched as far as he could from his body as it illuminated the cave and the path before him. He looked over his shoulder to make sure the four young Ishi new bloods were keeping up with his pace and sure enough, with excitement on every face, they were. There were three boys and one girl that followed in single file, the girl had hooked a finger around Bano's belt sticking her tongue out at him as they went.
“Don't expect any special treatment when I hand you over to Toshii.” Bano mumbled down to her.
“I won’t!” she almost sung the words as it took all her restraint to keep from jumping from joy. The new found armor on the new bloods left arm made keeping up with Bano more of a pain then they made it seem as they stiffly rushed along the damp cold floor almost tripping up with every few steps. At the very end of the line was the youngest of the four, Rak, he kept his forces to the back of them as he swore he could hear the echoes of some giant monster. Rak shook his head has he pulled himself along, his left arm grabbing at the wall to make sure he did fall in the dark.
They came at last to the end of the long narrow cave as it opened up to a massive dome with several more pathways that all looked the same. Bano unhooked the girl from him and handed her the lantern. “Go light the other lights.” he told her pointing to the other lamps that were placed in a circle around the dome like cave. She nodded and ran off leaving the others in the dark; Bano gave it a moment to see if any of them would start to freak out with not being able to see. Satisfied he lit a small fire in his hand
“Why do we need a lantern if you can do that?” The tallest boy commented, his arms crossed over his chest with a smug look on his face as if he had outsmarted the Yamakage by thinking of it.
“Now, now, Koorm, can you make fire?” Bano asked with a smile and a shrug.
“No” Koorm said back a bit confused.
“Then that's why we have a lantern, this is your test, not mine. The only reason I made a fire is because I see no point for myself to stand in the dark.”
Koorm's smug look vanished as he found a large rock and flopped down on it. “You could have just lit the lights yourself at least.”
“Are you in a rush? Do you have somewhere to go?” Rak shot at him “It's not like you're the one having to run around doing it.” he finished as Koorm gave him a nasty look as if he was giving him a silent warning and Rak shook his head in frustration as he found him own rock to sit on.
The third boy walked slowly up to Bano
“Yes?” Bano asked, his eyes not even on the boy as he watched the girl move from light to light, the cave becoming easier to navigate in with every new one lit.
“Do you have another one? A lantern I mean, I feel bad having Areana do all the work.”
“No, I don't” Bano shook his head “Maybe next time” he patted the boy on the back, it made him feel good that one of the new team seemed like they wanted to work with the others and share the workload that was about to come their way. He let the fire in his hand go out as Areana lit the last lamp, every inch of the cave now filled with a bright light leaving no darkness.
“Alright.” Bano clapped his hands as she rejoined the group finding a spot right at his feet. “From here on out, I wont be joining you. In fact, I'm about to leave you all alone. I want you all to wait here for Toshii; she is going to give you the training you need to last as an Ishi.” With a strong upward movement of his arm, all but one of the pathways blocked off as the earth came up and blocked them.
“If any of you wish to back out now, come with me.” He smiled and nodded as no one moved. “Okay, best of luck” He rushed for the exit before one of them could change there minds, it closed off as well when he passed it leaving the four new bloods to fend for themselves.
- - -
Toshii pulled the chains tighter around the dragon as Bano rounded the corner into the cavern room. Over the years, the beast had become submissive to her and the Ishi clan as a whole, but with the new additions, she was worried it would become confused and attack the new bloods. Toshii sighed as her hand rested on the side of the beast’s neck, she thought of it as a friend and now it was she chaining him up as if he was some brainless thing.
“Thank you” Bano said as he came into ear shot of her “It means a lot.”
“I'd rather not have more Ishi members dead, fresh or old.” She said nodding to him making sure one last time the chains around the dragon were set and would hold.
“He does not seem to be fighting it,” Bano sounded a bit happy as the thing seat there almost lifeless.
“Sleeping.” Toshii said, dismissing his happiness as she moved around to the back checking the last chain. “Will you be staying to see how they do?” She asked making her way back around as she dusted her hands off.
“I really can't.” Bano gave her a thumps down “Areana can feel AMP, she sucks at it, but she knows mine without a doubt.”
“So?”
“So! She does not want me around; something about it makes her feel like I'm trying to baby her.”
“Don't go easy on her then?” Toshii smiled a kind of evil smile
“Hit them all hard.” Bano nodded as he turned away throwing his hand up in a wave “They are right where you asked me to put them, have fun.” He called out as he vanished around the same corner that he had come in. Toshii looked back at the chains with a frown “I really hope those hold you big boy.”
- - -
The small boat slowly made its way on top of the murky waters as it entered the thick mist.
“Lucky one, you are!” Said the boatman with a toothy grin “You would have been lost in this forever without me.” he chuckled to himself softly not realizing that his passenger could just have easily gotten rid of the mist. Q just nodded with a smile flipping a gold coin into the air reminding the man that he needed him more then Q needed the ride.
“Never seen it this thick before” The boat man complained but to Q it was all the same and it looked like nothing but more and more mist that he could not see past. For a split second, it got so bad that he could really see nothing at all, not even the boat.
“What's wrong?” Q asked as the boat slowed to a standstill
“I can't move if I can't see anything.” came the reply from behind him.
“Let me fix that!” came the voice of a female from in front of Q as the mist around them jumped away leaving the boat and ten feet ahead of them clear.
“Hello, Raikage.”
“You're slow~” She smiled at him with a wink.
“You know, in my days we kages could not just leave our village on its own when we felt like it” Q winked back at her.
“Well, I have something for ya.” She pulled out a piece of paper with a bold signature of the Destinykil, the Mizukage. “It took forever to get, he kept trying to make me feel his arms...” She shuddered as she went on “He said he will only give it out once, even if he does want to fight it out with the other clans.” she dangled the signature in Q's face. “But this is where you ask how I know, well! Death and Dei came fighting over it on Lounge Island and that brings me to my last point.” She took a deep breath in. “I will only sign if we get a vacation on the island! We can go no-”
“I still need Clair's name” Q stopped her from talking herself to death.
“I told you were slow.” She threw up another paper with Clair's name written on it. “See! All done, I did most of your work for you and for that, I vote we go to the island.”
Q shrugged “I guess you win, we needed to hold a meeting before it all got started anyway, we can do it on Kage Island.”
Saba squealed with joy and paid the boatman herself to let them off, and gave him another ten coins to give the Mizukage a message to have him and the other kages come to Lounge Island.
- - -
“Welcome to your new second home, I hope you enjoy it.” Toshii said walking up to the small group of new bloods as the boys were in the middle of an arm wrestling contest. The only one to give Toshii any attention was Areana who just bowed and sighed at the boys who were to into what they were doing to even notice if they were on fire. Toshii's left hand became a hard fist as she took her right hand and grabbed hold of Koorm's hair yanking him back a good five feet. He hit the ground hard; Toshii came to stand over him as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. She pulled back her leg and came in with a hard kick to his side, reaching down she pulled him up buy the collar of his shirt. “Well.” She turned on the others who stood there shocked “I had a lot planed for you, but it really looks like you need some respect beat into you before we get to it.”
“I showed respect,” muttered Areana with a frown, her tone almost sounded depressed.
“That does not matter; you are all Ishi clan members now. You're a family; today's lesson is defending yourself.” Toshii said letting Koorm's body go, she kicked him hard again as he hit the ground sending him back over to the others, he held his sides unmoving at their feet.
Rak rushed in on Toshii as Areana and the other boy looked over Koorm trying to help him. He swung his left arm as hard as he could but it was clumsy, the Ishi armor threw him off balance. Toshii easily sidestepped his attack and tripped him up laughing at the sight as he crashed to the ground face first. The earth started to come up and enclosed around his hands and feet. Before she could make her next move she was attacked from behind, again she easily dodged the attack from the other boy but it did not stop him from throwing a few more kicks that only hit the air as Toshii ducked and moved around him. Toshii smiled as Areana came in from her right and the boy attacked with a roundhouse kick on her left, as he came around she grabbed his leg as if he were moving as slow as a turtle and with all her strength she pulled the boy around to her other side and used him as a shield. She could have sworn she could hear bone crack as the hit landed hard on his ribs, throwing him to the side she came in on Areana ready to put an end to the sad display of the poor inexperienced fighters. With her arm pulled back as far as it would go, she pulled it forward, she was shocked as her hand connected with Areana's armor; she had used it to block the incoming attack. Toshii saw the smirk on her face as her right arm came up and grabbed Toshii's left arm, Areana then came in with a spinning backhanded punch with her left arm. The attack sent Toshii stumbling back; her face had a large cut running up her check.
“Well, you know how to use it.” she gestured to the armor. “If any of you are still alive, I would start training more. The girl's better then all of you.” Toshii nodded at her with a smile. “We're done for now; go check on them.” Toshii looked on as the three boys tired to recover what little pride they had left huddling in a small corner letting Areana check for any serious wounds. It made her think of the day Bano had done the same to her small group of friends, she and the others had shown him disrespect and they paid for it just like the new bloods now did. “They are going to be just fine,” she muttered to herself as she wiped the blood from her cut away.
Suddenly a load roar echoed and the caves shook with it, Toshii bit her lip at the signs of the new bloods getting another brutal lesson that could end them forever.
Toshiro~ ^_^ x3
love it! :3
