The Terror of the Forest (IO) (Salzem, Kasai)

Mission Specs:

Draconis was meeting Salzem AGAIN, the first time was out of nowhere on their first mission together that had seen them get to chunin rank. The second time was as a training session, and the third time, well, this was about an hour or so after their last meeting. The other guy was a name that seemed like it should be familiar to Draconis but he was not sure. Kasai or something like that, the description said he was very distinct....

He waited in a courtyard near the gates, the assigned meeting spot, waiting for his team mates to arrive.

(ooc: should one of us control the monster for all of us for simplicity? otherwise there is a fair chance we have conflicting posts by accident)

Salzem was sitting by on a branch hanging over the courtyard, looking over the silence and peacefulness that was the Konoha woods. It was almost too ridiculous to believe something so devastating could be haunting the woods. Truth was, Salzem was sitting there sense 11:00 pm last night. He was up all night thinking, He was going to leave his life of relative security behind to travel with Kaos. What would that entail and would they cross paths with a capable doctor? These questions and more entered and exited Salzem's mind at annoying speeds, forcing him to look over everything. Time passed and he didn't even notice the sun come up. Only when he saw Draconis entering the courtyard did the last thought enter his mind:
This will be my last mission here... He had been preparing for this for a long time and had known this day was coming but yet he could feel nothing but... Anxiety? No... something else... Something deeper, richer than simple fear. Salzem shook his head, clearing it of all unnecessary clutter that had nothing to do with the mission. Salzem leaped down from his perch, landing about a meter behind Draconis.
"Draconis." Salzem would greet him. He would then take out his new key blades, Olympia and One-Winged Angel, spinning them in his hands, getting a feel for their weight. Now all that's left was to wait for the final member of the group. Salzem did not know who this last person was. Well, perhaps he did at some point. Weather he wasn't listening when it was told or maybe he forgot during the night, it did not matter.

(Woooo, three weeks off of work. I am very sorry for not replying to this until now, but thank you both for being so patient with me)

Another beat? Kasai wondered. Perhaps as the sun rises each day, so too does a force that is as strong as the beams of light. But it was of no matter, he had handled the last, and so he would handle this one as well. He had heard news of who his two teammates would be for this fight, and he was glad to have Salzem again, but he had only heard of Draconis in passing. He was a stronger shinobi of Konoha; one of the few Chuunin, though their numbers were steadily climbing, which was a good thing. 

Hopefully this beast wouldn't have such a powerful advantage over him as the last one did, he thought to himself, walking towards the two Chuunin. His mask once again hung around his neck, as it always did recently, leaving his scarred face exposed, and his flowing robes behind him, with the scroll of the ape clan on his back, Kasai waved at the two as he approached.

"Hey Salzem," he said, smiling to his familiar friend. "And hello Draconis," he would say to the other, bowing his head.

Draconis inclined his head towards the other two as he saw them. Greeting them both in turn, he gestured outside the village gates. “Are you guys ready?” he said.

Meanwhile he was running his hands over his equipment, making sure everything was in place so that the mission would not be held up by the likes of him self. In the distance, a roar came across the green, over the village walls, by the sound of it the beast being a ferocious monster indeed.

He began concentrating his fire chakra in the same way he had concentrated his wind chakra before for the wind jutsu. He could already tell though that the effect would be noticeably different….

Salzem waved at Kasai as he arrived and nodded at Draconis's question.
"I'm ready." Salzem sighed, Slipping his swords into their respective holsters at his side. It was good that Kasai and arrived, however, where were these monsters coming from? This was the second one in the last week or two. Salzem winced as his chest began to throb. He was thankful his coughs had mellowed out, however the pain that came prior hadn't. At least he didn't put on a show by coughing up blood. Salzem cracked his knuckles and nodded off in the direction of the forest.
"Shall we go?" Salzem asked.

Kasai thumbed the mask that hung around his neck, and smiled slightly as he nodded his head.

"Ready as I'll ever be," was his response. He was disappointed that he had not yet discovered the most powerful fire jutsu, the one which the ape clan had spoken of, but he had one that was very close, and was ready to use it at a minutes moment. Karyoku wasn't entirely reliable yet (but if you guys are fine with me using a summon that I've only half trained for, hehe), and so he likely wouldn't try to summon him this fight. Ruijin was slightly too weak if this monster was as strong as the last one, and so that would leave just Kasai, Draconis, and Salzem. He, however, did not doubt their abilities at all, and knew they were all solid and strong fighters. They would succeed, but the question would be, with what difficulties? It would be a fight indeed.

In response to Salzem's question, Kasai simply nodded.

(I’m cool with you training a summon in the mission ^_^ I’m doing a similar thing myself)

Draconis stared briefly at each of the other two ninjas, one his senior chunin, and the other his team-mate. “If you guys are ready, let’s go.” If they appeared ready too he would head out of the village, running through the gates, and then into the forest.

Scouting around with his Byakugan, he saw what looked like… “Seems that something huge landed there.” Draconis pointed at a new clearing, the trees pushed aside in a circular pattern, almost as if something really large and heavy had landed on them from the sky. “I think it headed that way.” Draconis spoke in a rather dry tone, his gaze and one hand pointing towards a series of large tracks imprinted rather deeply into the mud, leading away from the apparent impact site.

He flared his fire chakra again in the same manner as the wind chakra he had been doing before. It was coming easier now in some ways but he still had to worry about the wind chakra mixing in. He was only intending to do fire chakra for now. Later he would try to put them both together but not yet. His body would, on occasion, be surrounded by a flickering red aura but not a thick one.

(217+ 208 = 425/3334)

(Does this mean I can practice my S-Rank Taijutsu?)

Salzem kept silent throughout the forest as his thoughts were elsewhere. Salzem kept one eye open (metaphorically) to scan the surroundings and watch for the monster but he was constantly drifting. For reasons he either could not or would not explain, Salzem's attention could not be pinned to the task at hand. Salzem's focus on his thoughts broke as Draconis confirmed the presence (or more accurately; It's once-Presence). It was clear that this creature was huge from the size of it's footprints. The shape, however, seemed to resemble nothing Salzem has ever seen. Perhaps a lizard or ape? Perhaps. Salzem kept to the back of the group in case the creature somehow was able to pull an ambush. Or, at least that's what he told them. In all seriousness, he was questioning his usefulness in this mission due to his condition.

Why did I agree to go? Salzem thought but he already knew the answer: Because he thought he could. That was after he agreed and before he knew of the changed circomstances. His body was weakening now that the poison had changed. It was on the move now, targeting other parts of his lungs, rendering his mask useless. He kept it on however, for the fear that if he took it off, he would drop dead.

Salzem kept his head low but he kept alert, focus only breaking from the occasional throb in his chest.

Kasai flicked his eyes to Salzem, noticing something slightly off. He wondered if he was alright.

Kasai then resolved that he would summon Karyoku, after seeing the massive disturbance left by this strange creature. The ape was incredibly powerful, and if he actually was summoned, would provide a huge bonus. 

"A large bird, or a dragon perhaps?" Kasai asked the other two. "Something seems to have landed here, so I assume it can fly. Or it can jump very far."

Regardless, Kasai knew that fights such as these were not to be taken lightly, as these monsters were very strong. He had learned that from the past fight. 

"Do you mind if I summon someone whom might aid us?" Kasai asked the other two. Emphasis on the might. Karyoku had the tendency to not be as helpful as the other members of the fire apes, but when he was, he was extremely so. Maybe today was their lucky day with the apes sense of motivation.

Seemed like the others were none too sure of themselves either. That meant everybody should be on high alert, which was definitely a good thing. Draconis looked around with his Byakugan some more, and began following the tracks. “Sure, go ahead, I suspect any help we can get may prove useful.” Draconis replied to Kasai. He walked between trees, each step spanning many meters as the ninjas were so commonly portrayed in popular culture, never mind that popular culture in this case were so likely to know ninjas already that it was obvious that this was not really all fiction.
 
Assuming the others followed Draconis , he would watch them too, if one of them appeared to need to slow down for some thing like summoning, or trying to at least, then Draconis would wait, before continuing.
 
Eventually, he would come to a stop, in a clearing, before him a massive carcass of a bird slumped over a tree, with some nasty burns on one side perhaps, some punctures, though he could not be sure from what, and a rather frighteningly massive bite taken out of one wing that consumed almost a quarter of the bird’s body and a leg as well. Oh, my.
 

“What do you make of this, fellows?” Draconis asked. He wanted to see what they thought before stating his own opinion. The tracks leading away from the bird they had encountered were in the same direction as they had been going for some time. Personally he thought the thing was a true behemoth, perhaps it breathed fire, or acid or something as well, and hopefully those were only claws or fangs and not some thing worse that had made the holes.

(425+284=709/3334)