Where the Road Takes Us

For the most part they did what they were told, except for the emptying their pockets thing. And the no talking thing. Potentially even the no moving thing. Actually, they really didn't do what Alice had demanded at all, come to think of it. The two newcomers didn't seem to know the fool with Royal's Edge pressed against his throat. Either that, or they were fairly good actors. Considering everything else about them so far, though, Alice thought the former was much more likely. The only one that truly obeyed the girl's orders was the moron who had fallen out of the tree. It was a good thing she wasn't in a bad mood today, or else these kids would have been dead before they could finish their repugnant remarks.

The two clones stalking the rebellious duo who didn't seem to care for their lives, darted out from their respective hiding places and each held the tip of their own Royal's Edge against their targets backs right on their spinal cords ready to sever them if necessary. "That wasn't very smart," the clone behind the rude, vocal one said.

"You guys should really be more careful," said the one watching squirrel-boy. The tip of her sword pressed a little harder against the boy's back.

Having noticed she'd been spotted and hiding was no longer helpful, the original Alice dropped down from her perch to land softly a couple meters behind her clone pinning down idiot-boy. She held her sword at the ready as she did so, not planning on letting any poorly planned shuriken or kunai throw get the better of her. Once she was on the ground, she would smile at the two targets in front of her. Somehow, their attitude of non-compliance actually put her in a better mood. "Normally I would have killed you on the spot for your rudeness," she said, smiling underneath the multi-weave mask that covered the lower half of her face. "But I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you a chance to win your lives." Though they couldn't see her smile, they could probably hear it in her voice. The sadistic nature Alice had suppressed was mingling with the side of her that had grown compassionate, each fighting for dominance. "If you can make a single scratch on me, I'll walk away. The three of you have to work together, but only one of you needs to make the scratch. I won't even use my clones."

She watched the two furthest from her closely as she said this, trying to read them and see what reactions her words provoked. "So, what do you say?"

[skipping roku cuz its been a week and both love and i have sent him PMs trying to contact him. I won't hold you guys up either so I'll just attempt this robbery and bounce. Feel free to try to stop me]

Whether it was too unnerving having swords pressed against their backs or some other, strange reason, Alice's targets had yet to react to her words. "Well, if you're just gonna stand there I guess I'll take whatever money you have on you and go," the original said as she first bent down and grabbed the small pouch of money from idiot boy's waist before moving to search the remaining two. While she did so, her clones all kept watchful eyes on her targets. It didn't take long for her realize one of the two had no money to speak of, the other not having much either. "Well, it isn't much, but i guess it's better than nothing," she said, shrugging as she tucked away the stolen ryo pouches. Quickly performing a few hand seals, Alice disappeared in a flash of crimson light with a sly wink.

[potential exit]
claiming 4,500 ryo if successful
-50ap for vanish (70 speed)

Ryal sighed at the clone girl’s words when she jumped down behind him. With his hands still in his sleeves he could easily make hand seals and activate Storage Displacement should it push the sword any further. However that was the cause of the sigh, he was wishing that he was able to use it without having to weave the signs. Though the girl could mistake this as him getting aroused or giving up after seeing that she wasn’t all talk. Unfortunately when the real Alice jumped down she was out of Ryal’s range and he wouldn’t be able to cast his jutsu on her. Wow this is one cocky little bitch. Ryal thought as the child offered them the chance to “win” their lives. He didn’t even need to look at his partner to know that they weren’t going to put up with this bullshit. And in their silence the girl decided that they’re were chicken and she’d just take what she wanted and leave.

When the original bent to retrieve the money off of the boy who’d fallen from the tree Ryal made the tiger hand seal trapping the clone behind him in the Temporary Paralysis jutsu. If anything based on their low levels of chakra it would make more since that the blue haired male was praying rather than trying anything sneaky. Although if the clone were to try stabbing him Ryal would send chakra to the soles of his feet and let his body fall forward. Given the girl’s short wingspan she wouldn’t be able to sever his spine unless she copied his action. If she were to follow in his footsteps Ryal would use one of his feet to kick her ankle while turning to punch her using Chain Fist. Hopefully his partner also had some way of getting free or else he’d been in this alone and probably get his ass kicked. Yet if at any time either the of the clones or the original touched him, skin or clothes, Ryal would force Yuumei into their system(s), which will cause something devastating to happen and likely end in the girl’s death/clones destruction as Yuumei is deadly to all none Shinkou. Unless it’s being infused via a jutsu that the golden eyed god was not knowledgeable of. Also due to this his body won’t erupt in blue flames as it would when using the jutsu so by the time they’d let go it’d be too late and Yuumei will have entered.

WC: 416

It would seem as though their lack of words caused the lady to advance her plan of robbing them. Perhaps they all took a tad too long in making their decision, but the tip of the sword pressed against his spine wasn’t a place he would like to be. Taishi knew that Ryal wasn’t going to sit back and get his money taken away. No, without even a look he knew that the golden eyed man would fight back. In reality, they were probably outmatched, but again Taishi thinks to how glorious a battle could be.
 
From his peripherals he would see Ryal doing something. Taishi was in quite the predicament, as he didn’t know a whole lot of stuff, and the training he had done earlier with those other two traveling shinobi… Ryu and… Brooke were their names? Eh, it doesn’t matter. The training hadn’t gone anywhere near as well as he had hoped and he had simply been without many options here.
 
Taishi could hope that the distraction was enough to give him some room to work, but in all fairness he wasn’t all that quick. The blade that was pressed against his spine upper spine (just above the shoulder blades) felt as though it was held as if for a horizontal slash. He would take the blade that was in his hand and pivot to his right to spin around underneath the blade in place in hopes to duck underneath it. A forward lunge would prove to be difficult if this worked (since he would hopefully be under the blade now) and unless the blade was shifted it would limit the attacks that could reasonably be performed from the position (a horizontal blade would have issue making a vertical slash) unless the clone shifted the blades positioning which could buy him a few precious moments of time. This would all be so much easier if he were a tad faster, but he simply wasn’t and so his sluggish, bulky body would move only as quickly as it could, no faster. He would throw 3 shuriken at the clone’s exposed lower half as quickly as possible in an effort to disperse the clone and focus his efforts on the real target.
 
If Ryal was successful in besting the clone on him, they might have a chance here. Plus, there was that odd boy that simply wasn’t doing anything at all. Paralyzed with fear it seemed, though he looked to be young and the realities of death might not have taken their grip on him like it had on the other two. “I thought you were as excited to face us as I was to have the opportunity to face off against such a seemingly worthy opponent. Why the sudden desire not to? Change of heart?” Taishi felt as though they could potentially overwhelm the girl in a three on one scenario, but as it stood it would prove to be much less likely, especially if the clones were still around.

AP/Jutsu used this post: 0/None
WC: 502

Whether it was by chance, a result of shock, or some nuanced planning on their part, the trio which were meant to be Alice's targets happened to all act at the same time. The clone standing behind the blue haired male found herself shruggish to move for an instant as her target fell forward and performed a series of acrobatic feats meant to free him from danger. Of course the clone, being primarily Alice, found it rather delightful and let herself be caught and dispelled. At the same time, the brutish man performed a maneuver Alice would have thought required more agility than he could muster. Still, this too impressed the young rogue and the clone allowed herself to be dispelled.

What truly caught Alice off guard, and probably would have injured her dearly if it weren't for a parting gift from her late leader, was the clumsy boy's actions. In fact, if she hadn't had her previous interactions with Sorethin, she might not have noticed at all. The boy was either of the same clan or utilized the same jutsu as Sorethin did. Without much in the way of tells, several black tendrils snaked their way out of the boy's hands and began an attempt at piercing several parts of Alice's body. Luckily enough, since she had encountered the same ability before, she was able to activate her chakra barrier that prevented most damage from even touching her. She hadn't planned on wasting it in such a place and for this boy to make her do so was a feat in and of itself. Only a few minutes had past since the beginning of their encounter and already Alice saw promise in these three. Perhaps simply robbing them was the wrong idea. Maybe, just maybe, it would have been better to recruit them into her ranks. Well, Alice had had that idea from the start, really. That was why she had even offered this deal in the first place.

With her chakra barrier active and two clones already dispersed, Alice quickly performed a single hand seal and was standing high in the tree she had jumped from, perpendicular to its trunk without receiving a single scratch and dispelling her remaining clones.

"So you do have some fight in you after all," she said, smiling down at the trio below. It would have been disappointing if they had given no resistance whatsoever. "Well then, I'll take this as your acceptance of my offer." Her words were punctuated by the disappearance of her final shadow clone, a small cloud of white smoke remaining where it once stood. "Good. If you had decided not to fight I would have just killed you outright. This is much more fun." Her tone was that of elation, like a child let loose in a toy store. "As I promised, my clones won't be involved. All you need to do is land a single scratch on me. Do that, and I will let you live." The words were ushered with such authority and condescension, it would be hard for anyone not to react to them. "So," she continued teasingly, "what are you waiting for?"

The final question would no doubt drive them mad. The whole point was to ruffle their feathers and see who kept their cool. So far all of them showed promise, but were they all worth keeping? Time would soon tell. She had plans for this world, Alice the betrayer. The only question now was how did these three play into that? Whether they reacted or not, Alice would stand still on her perch and wait to see what the three could come up with on their own. Still, if it weren't for that chakra barrier she might have been in real trouble.

-1ap surface walking
+468ap dispelling of clones
-10ap body flicker
614ap remaining
chakra barrier has 180 power and lasts for another 3 posts. Good luck!!

After successfully capturing his clone in the jutsu it oddly dispersed itself. The blue haired male turned to look at his partner who’d manage to dodge a possible attack and launch one of his own. He smirked at the grey-ish brute when he spoke, though he was still cautious as the clone he was dealing with also dispersed. There was no build up of chakra however from the corner of his currently red eyes the male could see black tendrils escaping the tree boy. They way they burst out of him it was almost like he wasn’t in control, like his desire to live after mentally panicking took over. If Ryal didn’t know any better he’d think the boy was possessed with one of the allegedly mythical chakra beasts. “Well that’s something you don’t see everyday.” He commented on the boy’s ability which turned out to be the useful out of the three victims.

The tree boy had managed to get the original to run away, she hadn’t gone very far but it was still something. He also got her to use a defensive jutsu, which is probably why she was so damn cocky in the first place. Following her flee back to her perch the girl dispersed her final two clones and addressed the victims again. Normally Ryal would sigh, roll his eyes, and leave but that barrier let him know that she’d be more capable of causing real harm to them. His hands still hidden the golden eyed god would form the bird seal as he inhaled. After a short but forcefully exhale a baseball sized ball of air would fly at the girl. This could be seen as the male childishly spitting at the girl but, for now, he was just playing along.

WC: 296

AP: -5 quiet footsteps, -10 temp paralysis, -23 air bullets = 169

Taishi was successful, almost to his own surprise. The clone seemed to disappear in a *POOF* and the odd boy on the ground also seemed to catch the girl off guard with a surprisingly quick attack like nothing Taishi had ever seen before. “That’s some weird friggin’ stuff,” the brutish man would say under his breath as the tendrils all pierce into the protective barrier around the assailant. She seemed to be unscathed, but it was an impressive attempt for sure.
 
She would then form what looked like a Ram Seal and then disappear in a flash, only to reappear standing up in the tree, perpendicular to it. Taishi didn’t like to be off the ground, though he wasn’t ever sure why. Something about having the solid earth beneath his feet simply felt right, so he probably would not fight her on her terms in the trees.
 
He would simply ready himself by keeping track of his surroundings and what he had left to work with. He still had all of his Kunai, along with 2 more shuriken. That would sadly be all he had in terms of ranged options. He could always throw rocks if the need to came up, too. His partner seemed to waste no time at all, expelling a Wind Style Jutsu quickly at the foe. Taishi would have his hand in his weapon pouch, ready to launch an assault on the girl based on how she reacted to the wind bullet.
                                                                           
He also had one other card up his sleeve, but he wasn’t sure if the opportunity would present itself yet, and so he waited, standing next to a tree in case it became useful.


AP: 120 (Still didn't use and Jutsu or AP this post)

WC: 280

Whatever it was that had made these three hesitate before was apparently gone now. The tendril user seemed to have snapped the other two back to their senses with his quick attacks, drawing their attention momentarily. The distraction didn't last long, though. The blue haired male soon regained his composure and launched a follow up attack on Alice in the form of a wind style jutsu. That meant that at least two out of the three of them could use ranged techniques. Sure, she could have dodged it if she wanted to, but Alice wanted to show these three that an attack like that wasn't even going to make her flinch. She wanted them to know that she could end their lives at any moment, but she hadn't yet.

Smiling down at the potential allies below, Alice let the blue haired male's jutsu hit its mark without so much as a flinch. "Come on now, you'll have to do much better than that if you plan on winning this game." she said. Her sword, Royal's Edge, was still held ready in her left hand. With her right, she formed three hand seals of her own. "It's my turn now," she said before putting her right hand in front of her mouth as if she were going to blow into it. Immediately, a powerful jet stream cone of water shot out from her mouth aimed at the two who hadn't yet used those tendrils. They were only 8 meters down from where she was and a few meters away from the base of the tree. Even though the water style attack was fast, they were far enough away that they should be able to dodge or counter if they wanted to.

-37ap for water trumpet(50 speed, 60 power)
-1ap surface walking
576ap remaining
chakra barrier has 2 posts left until its gone

This had already started going better than originally anticipated. Given that there was no blade in anybody's larynx. Yet.

The next step was a slight mystery, although the tentacles of attack retracted like jet black murder noodles into the pale boy's body because that step was nearly necessary if this were to continue. The target, predator, logically speaking, had launched an attack not directed at Roku, which could be construed as both insulting as well as merciful under different lights. 

However, the boy was wearing his shades, and lights did not do him all the greatest good anyway.

All of his attention was directed at Alice and the space around, as well as between, himself and herself. It was the battle, as he saw it, and he would have to find a way to win in some way against a far superior opponent; what did not occur to him in the least was the helpfulness of the other two figures, who had all but faded from his mind. The impact of the air bullets demonstrated the duo's evident ineffectiveness to what part of Roku's conscious thought cared to notice. This was simply a mistake drawn purely from inexperience, but it would solidify his thought processes to at least some extent for this encounter. In the same line of logic, so too would their respective lines about his... peculiarities. Although the adrenaline running through his veins like liquid energy coerced brainpower into short term work, every bit of this encounter would likely be engraved onto the surface of memory. Yet, at least for the moment, he still operated on some mixture of primal instinct and quick tactical thinking. The natural aversion to danger as well as the urge to fight back lead him to roll toward the tree that his foe had positioned herself in, and the more strategic part of thought processing was the driving factor behind the weaving of seals during the movement. Roku dragged from the earth on either side of him a Clay Doll, each connected to the boy's fingers. One glided over the ground behind the tree, and the other leaped up the tree toward its master's opponent; although it was unlikely to do very much should it reach its target, each of its rather lengthy and sharp 'hands' would slash diagonally at her.

Thinking was no longer hard. The movements were smooth, and the plan was natural.

Roku truly enjoyed fighting, and a faint smile crossed his normally blank features.

-20 AP from Clay Doll = 76 AP remaining

Pretty sure the Dolls move at 60 speed

WC: 431