Fox hunt! Sorta. (Solo, training, NK)

Sit down ladies and gentlemen, lemme tell you the not-so-thrilling tale of how Risako found and forced a small talking fox to become her companion. 

So sat a raven haired girl, in a ghost town of a library, cups of coffee scattered around her table, as were books, scrolls, and other notes and tid-bits of information. To her right hand, sat a small pile of about twenty or so note cards, with hastily scribbled but hopefully important pieces of information that pertained to the art of summoning. See, the silver eyed (not) vixen that hunched over her books and info had grown somewhat jealous of all the other little leaves' animal companions, and decided to get her own. Rather than ask her friends for advice or what animal she should try to befriend, she decided to go on and just... Ya know, barge into the library at four in the morning on a random impulse that struck her late in her sleepless night. 

As her eyes scanned over one little line of information, particularly, "Foxes tend to make dens wherever they feel safe and secure, while still being able to hunt." The girl hopped out of her seat, her little hands snatching the little pile of note cards like it were a phat stack of money. With a bounce, and a step, she was on her way to the door, leaving behind a table that looked as if it had been host to a part of teens before being hit by a tornado of books and little paper coffee cups. She shot out of the door, armed with the knowledge of how to find foxes, and an incredible speed. Too bad she was short on smarts, and sleep, both very important things. Well, when dumb luck, a little bit of street smarts, and caffeine were behind you, sleep and intelligence were for the weak.

Her pupils shrunk faster than a rabbit's heart beat after the slightest bump as they adjusted to the morning light, and her feet were pounding into the ground at the same pace. The caffeine probably had her heart pounding much faster than a rabbit's, but back to the point. Slipping the note cards into her back pocket, her hands formed together and formed the ram hand seal, (which didn't really resemble a ram that much, but ya know, that's what it's called) now even faster than she was less than a tenth of a second ago, she blurred down the street like a bullet. Not quite as fast, of course, but fast enough most would just see the after image and a few small dust clouds kicking up from the dirt. 

Risako slid around the corner and hopped back to her feet, bounding down the street yet again. Leaning slightly to the left, she formed the hand seal again and pushed off the ground, seemingly vanishing out of existence and phasing back into reality at the end of the street. Again, she was really just moving so fast that most people couldn't track her movements. I mean, most civilians couldn't, any ninja with a modicum of skill would think she was moving at roughly an average speed. Rounding a final corner, the wind whipping her hair around in little locks, the village gates came into view. Seeing no reason to stop, and maybe open them like a rationale person, she just kind of, ya know. Used that super ultra rare secret ninja technique that let one walk up walls to make her way out of the village. About four or so meters from the wall, she leaped to the wall, and started sprinting up instead of across. 

With her feet pounding along the wall instead of the dirt this time, she slowed down as she made her ascent, and came just short of a stop at the top of the wall. Right before she stopped completely, she reached a hand out over the rail and allowed her self to "unlatch" from the wall, letting gravity take it's course. Had Risako not reached out and grabbed that life saving rail, she'd have been falling right now. Of course, the fall wasn't like a major life threatening fall. At the most, she'd have probably sprained an ankle. 

Using her massive, god like, non existent amount of strength, she lifted herself up and over the rail, allowing her to stand securely on the wall. Then, to everyone's surprise and shock, she did the same thing, except much slower, and going down the opposite side of the wall this time. 

Now, I know this tale has been one of absolute seriousness and utter suspense until this point, but this is where it just gets silly. So if you don't have a mind for silly nonsense such as a dipshit trying to find a fox, then just go on. Scram, we have no need for you now. Also, don't really leave, I need company, and more caffeine, so go get that before you come back I guess. Go on, I'll wait.

Now that we're done waiting, let us return to our story. It was at the edge of Konoha's lush forests, that just teemed with animal life, that Risako decided to begin her metaphorical fox hunt. Upon greater thought, this was a rather bad place to begin searching for an animal that seemed to favor a peaceful existance. Konoha was always rowdy. 

None the less, Risako walked over to a rahter sturdy tree, for if she was looking for foxes, she wanted to be able to either catch them in the tree, since they climb, or be able to spot them before they got their eyes on her. Placing a foot on the tree, she balanced the chakra in her feet until she stuck like a magnet. Or a spivot. Since those are used in trees. 

With that foot on the tree, she lifted up and kind of strolled upwards, making her way up the tree. One foot here, one there, another on a brannnch annnnd. Done. She was aboot four meters off the ground, right at the spot where she could move through the branches, but also be able to see through the leaves. After all, being able to see was important yo. For the first time in a while, she took in the sites of the forest. The trees that dotted the land scape, the roots that bore into the earth, the leaves that blotted out the sun, the occasional sound of a twig that let you know even if you couldn't see something, you werent alone.

Mushrooms and fungus grew on the sides of many tress, if one payed enough attention or held a Byaakugan, they'd see ants that milled about their lives, and birds flittered about and foraged for bugs within the forest. Bushes and thorny shrubbery grew throughout the area, and some even had rather beautiful crimson petals blooming in spots. Taking a few steps, Risako disregarded all the beauty that surrounded her, and instead had one thought. "Where in the hell are these foxes."

With a hop, Risako caught her balance on a branch accross from her. After that, she slowly crept so as not to disturb even the softest leaf, and her eyes remained peeled open for any sign of movement. She failed to realize, that she hadn't even made it more that a few meters in the forest. It took her a minute too, the poor girl, to realize her mistake. So, in regular reckless Risako fashion, the girl darted off, crashing through small branches and twisting and weaving her way through and around the thicker ones, until she was certain she had gone miles. Not just one, but several. SEVERAL I TELL YOU.

Her reckless abandon for the forest stopped once she hit a small clearing with a pond in it. The pond, was about twenty meters across, with six meters of coast on one side, and four on the other. I mean, those weren't exact measurements, Risako was no ruler after all, but these were her observations. Her estimates. You come find it and prove her wrong if you don't like what she guessed.

Jumping down from the tree, she realized, that aside from sleep and wits, she forgot to pack food and water. So. This was as good a place as any to stop and get some water right? 

Dropping down into the shallow parts of the pond, our brave heroine found her self sinking to the bottom. Maybe it wasn't such a shallow pond after all. Quite the predicament too, considering Risako couldn't swim. No. She relied on the surface walking technique for her aquatic adventures. Was she just gonna die like this? Tune in and find out on the next paragraph, where we discover the fate of Konoha's beloved manliest ninja!

Panicking, she felt her feet hit the ground, and almost immediately she hit the go button on the surface walking technique, preventing her from getting stuck in mud. I mean, she wasn't sure if that's how ponds even worked, but better safe than sorry. Since the bubbles, at this point, had all escaped her lungs, and made their way to the surface of the water, her vision was beginning to go narrow. Picking a direction, she began a full on sprint, in a desperate last attempt to find her way out of this watery grave. Seconds seemed like hours, minutes like days, and... well. She didn't really have hours left, so I'll just leave that out. Besides, it's like one of those Russian doll things, they just keep getting smaller. No wait, it's the opposite of that.

Risako could say just about nothing. No light, aside from a few filtered particles of dust, and she couldn't feel herself moving that fast for some reason. Maybe it was the blindness, and the tunnel vision, but she needed to invest in some form of perception besides her eyes. She wasn't a dog, nor Kiba, so maybe not smell, but some enhanced hearing would be nice-

Right. She's dying right now. Risako could, after what seemed like minutes of running along the bottom of the pond could finally start to see a small ray of light bouncing off the surface off the wate-

She could jump. Risako totally forgot about it but she could jump. Crouching down, she gave a push against bottom of the pond, cancelling the surface walking technique, and began to ascend to the surface of the water briefly. She escaped Davy Jones' Locker only through the sheer dumb luck that she remembered that she could jump.

Getting a breath, she stuck her arms out in her best attempt as possible to float, using the surface walking technique in her palms this time, to pull herself out of the water. Which, upon closer inspection, probably wasn't too safe to drink. Really, it was kind of green. Oh well, unless she wanted to puke, which she was kind of doing right now, as a natural reflex to cough the water out of her lungs, she would just have to deal with the nasty water. 

Immediately, she darted for the shore, or coast, or whatever ponds have, and doubled over, still coughing up water like it was going out of style. Really, it's not like someone stuck a fire hose down the girl's throat, she shouldn't really be coughing anymore. Between the almost drowning and coughing, she had a hard time filling her lungs with air. Our heroine fell into an unpleasant fit of sleep, her cheek landing in the mud.

Risako wasn't sure how long she was out for, but, when her eyes slowly rolled open, she knew she had been out for a while. From her point of view, she lay on a stone floor of sorts, with Sakura petals falling to the floor. Those weren't in bloom, for about, three or so days? Or. Wait. 

Where was the pond?

Frozen, Risako cocked an eyebrow and just tuned in on her surroundings. She heard some clinks, like coins being tossed into a pile, and some hushed whispering she couldn't quite make out. Her hair felt rather, messy and matted. She could tell without moving, that something was caked on her cheek, probably mud. Slowly, and with the best of her ninja ability, she picked up her head, straining almost so as to go unnoticed by the whisperers. What she saw, to her widening pupils surprise, was a few foxes, tossing her coins, equipment, and other things into a pile. More so, beyond the hoodlums, was an entire valley, it appeared, of foxes. Some walked upright, others walked on all fours, the one in particular that held her interest, was this fox holding her ryo bag. Fiery orange fur, black limbs, snout, and tail. He/she/it was the first to go down in her rage. 

For some reason, they brought her to their valley, village, whatever. Two, they turned their back to their target, which was stupid when you were going through their stuff. She was unsure if it would be safe to just. Do what she was about to do, but dammit, she couldn't lose her stuff. 

Placing her left hand on the ground, she slowly adjusted her right arm so that she was in a sort of push-up position, she then brought her self to a low crouch, taking quiet steps towards this little band of foxes. Her hand shout forward like lightning, well, not really, but to the fox, it was already off the ground before it even registered that it had been yoinked off its feet by the scruff. Her silvery eyes locked with the foxes little brown eyes, it's little beady, teared up brown eyes, full of wide surprise and shock, and an immediate understanding had been met. 

Her eyes darted to the other two, who were on all fours at this point, but the didn't run. Like they didn't have anything to hide, ya know? Like they weren't just caught in the act of dragging Risako to some strange place and pilfering her goods while she was out cold. Whilst holding the fox in her hands, her brain went over the possibility that, maybe, she wasn't in danger of being robbed. Considering she was in the middle of the valley, or so it looked like. 

The foxes only heard a confused, "Uhhh," escape Risako lips before their companion was dropped back to all fours. Or two, as he gracefully allowed his caught himself and stood back up, his weird... paws rubbing the back of his neck.

The foxes, with a slight mischievious, sly accent that sounded reminiscent of a conman, said, "Well, great. She had equipment, but she's brain dead." Risako was sort of in a stupor. Unaware that summon species could talk, she sort of just stared at the fox, her mouth agape. The fox, Akami, started snapping his fingers, demanding, "Hey, dipshit, come on. You they'a? Is anyone home eh?"

Risako nodded, and shook her head, snapping out of her moment of... awe? Shock? Doesn't matter. "Y-yes. I'm sorry." Her hand found it's self trying to run through her hair, but it was pulled back in a very short ponytail, and the dried thing she felt on her cheek? Not mud but a bandage. Twas one of those situations where one mistook a rather forgiving regular situation, for one of danger.

The fox, Akami, sort of saw the reason behind it, but he couldn't just let it go, "Really, you should be a lot more careful den dat. We were just helpin' ya out." Lesson learned. Such wise wisdom was just bestowed upon her from the mouth of a small woodland creature. 

Her attention drifted once again, this time, looking out to the rest of the village. Quite a few of the foxes were drastically different from one another. A few walked upright, a few skulked about on all fours, some were white, some were orange, some were redder. A few were just, big. Bigger than any fox she had seen a picture of even. Her attention was called back to the important character, Akami. Giving her head a shake, she turned back to the snapping fox, and watched as he spoke. I mean, she wasn't listening, and she was kind of glancing at the two foxes who were putting her gear back in order, in the weapon pouches and grabbing little hand fuls of ryo, stuffing it back into the pouch that Akami had tossed to them. 

"Listen toots, you can be on ya way after you heal up. Til then make your self at home." She still couldn't get over the little fox man. He was rather fascinating. None the less, she took his words as "We'll give you until the morning to be out of here." While she didn't wanna impose, she also couldn't just quite give up on the whole little adventure. It was rather long, and... I mean. She didn't really know the way home anyway. 

As the short fox turned to walk away, Risako spoke up. "Wait, one second." Akami whipped around fast, fully expecting her to be done with the conversation, but no, mystery girl just had surprise after surprise. "I actually went on a small adventure looking for some animal companion to use- It sounds stupid. In the village, people tend to summon animals to help them in combat." 

Akami, being a rather lazy sorta guy. Said, "No." and walked off.

Risako got pretty desperate, used the tranformation jutsu to appear as a fox sized version of herself. Note, not a fox version, just, the same size. Anyway, she quickly exclaimed, "Then a challenge! A fist fight, where if I lose, I uh. I'll." Right, they didn't need ryo. 

Didn't matter, Akami was quite the little hot headed challenge accepting fox, and he turned right. "3. 2. 1." After that, he started with a step, and did this weird sort of graceful shoulder charge towards Risako. Of course, she was much faster than this little fox. None the less, she side stepped his charge and gave him a chop to the back of the neck, making sure not to hit with her full strength. Immediately, he slammed into the ground and Risako took a step off of him, giving him room. "If'n you'll let me finish, I was gonna say, you be my summon, if I win." 

Akami sort of growled in discontent. He wasn't so happy with the results, and was ready to put a handy cap on the playing field. "That's cheap, I couldn't even see you move!" he detested, rather upsetti with this whole situation. Even though he didn't quite agree with the terms, he also knew that he was in deep at this point. Metaphorically, not as in "deep" like Risako was earlier. She was drowning. Different kind of "deep." Not the edgy kind either. Frantically searching for something while Risako smirked, Akami made a demand. "Tie your arm behind your back!" Quite the demand, from a little fox that just lost a fight. But, Risako wanted his cooperation in the fullest, so she didn't argue. She just agreed. 

Risako just quipped with "Supply the rope." Akami of course, was slightly taken aback by her confidence to fight with the handicap. Not because he was afraid, but because he kind of respected that. The whole, "I've set a goal, and I'm achieving it," thing. So, he started ordering around the other foxes until some bond of somesort was delivered to Risako, with which she started tying her arm to her ankle. 

This time, Risako counted down. "3. 2." A long pause, she was eager, but she wanted to sort of scare him a bit more. "1." she said, in a half excited tone, and then, a move of utter awesome that took many years of her life and great skill to master, she stood there. Motionless waiting for Akami to take the first punch instead. And he did, semi-unconfident in his own abilities after the last round, but he did it. The punch he threw was aimed at Risako's neck.

Risako, bent at a weird angle, shifted her body weight to the left and cart wheeled to that-a-way. Specifically, toward the left. Landing on the leg that wasn't bound, she mustered her speed in one go, and flipped over the little fox, at such a speed that, to the fox, Risako was no more than a blur of black clothing. From behind him, she grabbed his foot, (transformation jutsu to keep her smaller, keep it in mind,) and pulled him down. 

On the ground, Akami looked up at his new... Master? No, that's too much ownership. Summoner? That's too unimaginitive. WE'LL GO WITH PARTNER. WOOT. Pulling her kunai out, she cut the rope the bound her leg and arm together. 

Faking the need for a stretch, Risako then helped Akami up and cancelled the jutsu, reverting back to her normal form. She produced a scroll, and crouched down, so that her foxy companion could see what was going on. And uhh, she was quickly cut off. By the paralyzed fox. Paralyzed by the seal that was placed on his ankles after she yanked them out from under him. "No, we use our own scrolls." Man, Risako was getting some enjoyment from the defeat that was almost palpable in the foxes voices. She deactivated the seal, and allowed him to go and retrieve the scroll. She'd wait. 

Crossing her legs, with a smile across her lips, she did wait. For about thirty minutes, when the fox came carrying a scroll twice his size. It was like watching a man carry a steel beam, well. That's about as good of an analogy as I can get. He plopped it down, stood by its side, and pushed to roll it open. He then stood over the clean paper, which had never had any names written down, and said, "Sign here toots," handing her a paint brush. Risako eagerly stroked her name onto the paper, awaiting further instruction. "Now prick your finger, and put some of ya blood on the square there," Taking the kunai she used just seconds ago, she stabbed herself, and smeared the blood across the square. 

Mission accomplished, foxes acquired. Standing up, she asked the poor defeated loser fox, "Do you know which way Konoha is by any chance?" 

Risako was given a prompt, "It's a about two days to the west. Get goin' while it's bright out." Chuckling, she stuck the kunai in its pouch, and her hands in their pockets, and walked outta the valley, her summon at her beck and call. Now she just had to dominate the whole species, then and only then could she ascend to god hood. (Kidding!) 

[3800 WC
19 stats
2000 for discovering and signing a contract with the fox summons
500 for Akami, the fox summon
1300 towards self cursing seal]

Approved