A Booby Trapped Hellscape (Halloween Event)

Mission:

Kita awakened to the sound of rusted, rattling chains. His eyes snapped open to find not the bedroom he had fallen asleep in, but instead that he was sitting within a dark and decayed room splattered with numerous stains of blood and other unidentifiable substances. It was a simple, gritty place. The floor was made of cracked and dirtied ceramic tile, stained brown from years of age. Certain sections had been torn up out of the ground, revealing a small concrete base below.

Surrounding him were ancient plaster walls, paint peeling after years of neglect. They were cracked and rotting, revealing molded wooden beams propping the whole thing up. Adorning that wall was a small row of mirrors, cracked and dusty, so much so that its reflexion appeared blurry and fuzzy.

Kita attempted to move, only to find that his left arm was tied with rusted chain at the wrist to some strange structure that he couldn't see. The boy frowned, turning his head to the mirror in an attempt to find exactly what it was that bound him. Through its hazy reflection Kita saw a small metal obelisk to which he had been tied to the wall. Though there was something else he saw. Something else was tied to this obelisk just out of his peripheral, visible only through the mirror. And that something seemed to be moving.

"Hello? Is there someone else in here?!"

Word Count - 236

Armor. Check. Weapon. Check. Rediculous armadillo cosplay all the way across the room in a locked safe so theres no way he could wake up in a wierd dream world wearing it. check. Ok. Pinochio ran though his checklist over and over before finally slipping into his bed for the night. He still wasn't sure why he kept waking up in a stupid dream world, but he would not be caught with his pants down this time. I mean he hadn't gotten caught with his pants down the first time, thats just a turn of phrase, but you know what he means. He was ready for anything. 

As his eyes closed, he slipped off into sleep filled slumber.... and his eyes opened once more. He hated this part. In one swift kick of his feet he flipped up into the air, doing that martial arts thing where the person goes from the ground to their feet and it looks real cool. Unfortunately he was chained to some sort of an obelisk, which caught him mid air, pulling him back to the ground quite painfully. It did not look very cool. 

"WHERE ARE WE EVEN THIS TIME HOW DOES THIS....you actually have to be kidding me. " Taking a look at his surroundings he found two things to be true. First, He was still wearing the armadillo haloween costume with long flowing robe and diamond topped hat. Ramkage he'd named it at the time. Second, the pants of his armor sat around his ankles, revealing a pair of white boxers with shuriken pattern flowing from left to right across the material. This is not what he'd meant by caught with his pants down....

(TWC 281)

"Ughhh... Don't tell me I am still in here.." A groggy ninja awakens next to the other two Mitsu dressed in house robes. Slender wrists clasped in similar chains to the obelisk as his two compatriots. His legs barely finding purchase with the ground. He blinks way any remnants of sleep from his eyes, tired and half awake as he stirrs to full activity.

And then he can feel it, the grimy shackles against his wrist, the disgusting room, the rough concrete on his feet. Disgust and a sense of fear over takes him. Mitsu is already shaking and pulling at his restraints trying to look around and find a way out of this place, that is before he can see the two others trapped with him, relief coming over him that atleast he wasn't alone... Of course Pinnochio was here too. Even during some tragedy the world would not give him a break.


"I-I'm Here.. Guessing you're a Kiri nin too?" He hadn't met this other ninja but judging by all his recent dreams it could be assumed they were with them just like everyone else was before. Trapped here with everyone else in the village. Lending only more credence to the idea its an attack on everyone in kirigakure

[214]

After Kita spoke, voices called back to him. Two of them he didn't recognize, though one of them he was particularly familiar with, and that brought him a sense of relief.

"Gonk? Yeah, it's me!"

One of the other two he didn't recognize called back, asking if they were Kirigakure shinobi as well. Three out of four confirmed to be from Kirigakure. Seems it was likely that it was all Kirigakure shinobi here. A thought crossed Kita's mind. Maybe Ayato wasn't done with him just yet. Maybe Hoshigakure had dragged him and his allies back to that hell to torment once again. The thought filled him with fear, though he quickly dismissed the thought as an irrational one. Ayato was done with him, for better or worse. Kita called back to the voice asking whether they were Kirigakure shinobi.

"Yeah, we're Kirigakure."

The last voice called out in frustration, asking where they were in seeming disbelief. Kita could empathize with the man, though he didn't have answers for him.

It wasn't long before Gonk broke free of his bindings and made his way over to Kita. As Kita watched Gonk approach through the dirty and cracked mirror, he thought about the situation in question. And the more he thought about it, the more his apathetic haze began to fade away. Rather unbefittingly of a ninja, Kita was unfortunately scared of tight spaces, and this chaining qualified. Thankfully though he didn't have to worry for long about it, as Gonk quickly shredded the bindings. Kita took his hand graciously and rose to his feet.

"Thanks."

Kita rubbed his wrist with his other hand, watching as Gonk freed the others and waited until everyone had risen to their feet. Those who hadn't met Kita before would see a small thin-framed boy standing roughly 5'5 feet tall, and possessing short black hair and stormy gray eyes. He work simple clothes, possessing a white kimono that had already begun to stain from his short time here, which covered a standard Kirigakure uniform without the flak jacket. At his left hip was a sheathed katana, and at his right a small weapon's pouch, both being held in place by a belt which proudly held his Kirigakure Hitai-ate.

Looking at the other two, he quickly noticed the other's signature marking, the one in house clothes wearing their's around their neck, and the other wearing it on their... armadillo... mizukage... halloween costume? Kita blinked at that. No profession attracted strange individuals like the life of a shinobi. Though he pushed that thought aside for now.

"Is everyone okay?"

Gonk had just asked everyone how they had gotten here when a sound filled through the room. It was deafening, filling every corner and crevice of this accursed place. It started low, a dull static that filled the room. Though it wasn't long before they heard the sound of a voice echoing through the room.

"Hello my young shinobi friends. Welcome to my house of fun."

Something about the voice was truly disgusting. Every syllable dripped with malice, and its low tones induced a deep rooted sense of discomfort in the mind of Kita.

"I understand that you have questions. Allow me to answer them."

The voice paused for a moment, allowing the tension to grow before continuing.

"Welcome to Yugakure. I brought you here because I wished to see your prowess. I've been told that your shinobi are among the brightest your population has to offer. I want to see it for myself. I took the liberty of creating a few... challenges for you, each more difficult than the last. The first was simple. Break the chains that bind you. The next few will not be so easy to persevere through. There are four more challenges for you to overcome. The obelisk behind you is fragile. Break it. Underneath it is a trap door containing a ladder leading to the next challenge."

The voice crackled for a bit as static filled the room, momentarily pausing the voice before it continued once again.

"Should you persevere through my challenges, you will be rewarded handsomely. Should you choose not to play along however, you will die here. The choice is yours. Further instructions await you at the next challenge."

With that, the voice clicked off. Leaving the shinobi in silence once again.

Word Count - 772

Total Word Count - 1008

He glanced around frantically. How could they be locked in some sort of hell scape dungeon?! Why did this always happen to him?! Its like theres some sort of vindictive god controlling all of the action, and that diety made the decision to constantly punish him for something. Nah. That sounds silly. He watched the other three in the room, right up to the point where the wierd shark boy just kind of.... snapped the chains? oh. Right. He was a taijutsu master. All he needed to do was break the chains himself to prove his own power to this shark man using the anything goes style of martial arts he was working on. 

Planting his feet firmly against the ground he shoved forward and up. His body flipped twice over itself, and then the chains pulled taunt sending him sprawling to the ground. Fair enough. That left only one option. 

"FIRST GATE OF OPENING......OOOPPPPEEEENNNNN" A surge of strength poured through his body as his muscles swelled from the added power. It took him moments to snap the rusted chains, standing up to give aid to the others. Wierdly, while they'd taken the weapon from gonk's shieth, they'd just left the salamanders kasurai gama on Pinochio's belt. More oddly he at no point considered that it might be there, or that it might help. 

With all four freed and a creepy fucking voice having finished it's entire monologue, Pinochio rushed into action. "Don't worry guys. I've got this. " He flipped four times in the air, spinning and twisting his body in place before finally his feet touched down. Then he uh. Well he kinda just punched the obelisk. 

IN his defense there were some very solid cracks in the crater his fist left. It did not exactly shatter like the creepy voice said though. 

"FALSE ADVERTIZEMENT!!!! We want our money back. " Had they paid for this? i mean. probably not right?

(TWC 602)

With his arms free Mitsu rubs off whatever grime might have gotten onto his wrists with the shackles. "Thanks... As for where we are I think it's Yun-" Mitsu would say before being stopped abruptly by the voice on the speakers. He was honestly shivering like a leaf. "Well I think that explains where we are. You're the really strong one right?" Mitsu says looking to Gonk "Heard a few Ninja sing your praises before. Think you can break it before Pinnochio breaks himself?"

With the two of them focused on breaking the Obelisk Mitsu tries to focus his eyes, veins bulging around his temples. Trying to see through the building and searching for a way out... But all that comes from the hyuuga is an exasperated sigh and a fading from his face "Perfect... I can only see this room. Going in blind then"

[365]

Seems as though the one in the strange outfit was a bit hyper. Kita blinked as he did a quadruple flip in the middle of the room before reeling up his fist to drive a solid punch into the obelisk in the center of the room. Chunks of blackened stone blasted outwards from the point of impact, leaving a sizable crater filled with hairline fractures in the structure, though it did not shatter as the voice said it would. Still, Kita had to admit that the strength of that strike was impressive. Whether it was more than what Gonk was capable of, Kita didn't know. Still, the boy couldn't complain about another hyperstrong shinobi on their team.

"Uh... Good try!"

Kita looked over to the other two. The one in the strange clothes was strong, though he wasn't keen on talking strategy from what Kita had seen. The other stranger in the room knew Gonk by reputation it had seemed. Kita bit his tongue at that, trying to ignore the fact that his once fellow Genin had now gathered enough prestige to garner a reputation, pushing his jealousy aside to focus on the mission. Before that however, he had to address something peculiar he had noticed...

Kita watched the other newcomer with some fascination. There was something very familiar about this boy, though he was sure they'd never met. Then the veins in his eyes bulged, and it became very readily apparent. He quickly deactivated his dojutsu, though Kita was slightly familiar enough in its workings by this point to identify what it might be. Kita walked over to him with a slight smile on his face.

"I don't think we've met just yet. My name's Kita Hajime. I wish we were here under better circumstances..."

Kita waited a moment to allow the boy time to respond.

"I hate to bother, but you're a Hyuuga, aren't you? I knew a couple back in Kirigakure. Were you able to find anything with your byakugan?"

At that moment Gonk delivered his own blow to the obelisk, causing the entire thing to collapse in on itself. Kita turned over the other frustrated shinobi and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.

"I think you loosened it up?"

Gonk suggested that the group delve below, to which Kita agreed. There was no obvious exit in the room that they'd found themselves in, leaving little choice but to go down where traps and tricks surely awaited them.

Kita took the lead. He opened the trap door to find a rusted ladder leading down into god knows where. A foul stench emanated out of the hole, and no light seemed to reach the bottom. Wherever it lead, it was far away. Taking a deep breath, Kita took hold of the rungs and descended down into the putrid dark. The scent was almost unbearable, and it got worse the further down that he'd gone down the ladder. Eventually he found himself at the bottom after what felt like hours of crawling, only to find himself in a dimly lit chamber. As the others came down behind him, it became easy to see exactly why it smelled so foul.

They stood at the base of a small, 5 meter long tunnel that stood 2 meters above the chamber. Along the floor below the tunnel was a stream of putrid green sewer water, leading from some small opening in the wall and flowing across the room to a locked metal gate, solidly set in between the wall. On either side of the river sat solid floor to walk across, though they were covered with a surprising number of sharp objects. Broken glass, rusted nails, even some scattered shinobi tools littered these floors. It was painfully obvious that any attempt to step on this ground, even with the footware they had on themselves, that they would likely get cut. Stranger still however was that four decayed skeletons sat in each corner of the room, all of them possessing a circular hole, wide enough to fit a hand in leading into their skull, and each being placed beneath a lit torch sconce illuminating the room. As the group all stepped into the tunnel and had a chance to examine the chamber, an intercom crackled to life from somewhere inside the room.

"Welcome to your first challenge. You're located in one of the sewer catacombs of the village. Before you lies one of the main sewage lines. Follow it, and it will lead you to freedom. However, there will be a number of obstacles in your way. This first obstacle is this gate. Try to get past it if you can, though I can assure you that's far more sturdy than it appears. On each side of the room you'll see that there are four skeletons. Inside each of their skulls is a key. Scattered around this room are four keyholes. Two of them are found somewhere on the floor, likely covered by the sharp objects that cover it. One of the keyholes is hidden under the river of sludge, at the bottom of the 20 foot depths. The last keyhole location is a mystery, and it's your job to find it. Once the appropriate keys have been applied to the appropriate keyhole, the gate will open, and you may progress to the next challenges."

Kita winced. The challenge was simple, but it was going to hurt. With the objects scattering the floor and the need to delve into the sewage sludge, they would likely all be injured and sickly by the time they got out of the room. Still, it was doable. Yet before Kita stepped forward to jump to one of the two floors below, the intercom gave one final set of warnings.

"As simple as this task may seem, there are a number of things to worry about. This sewer system is very old and in desperate need of repairs. Powerful attacks risk collapsing the entire system onto your heads, burying you under several tons of rubble, so consider that before attempting to attack the gate. Additionally, the keyholes will not work if they or the keys are damaged, and you will be trapped here should any of them be bent out of shape or broken. This means that should you attempt to break down the gate with your jutsu, you risk destroying your easiest method out of here. Lastly, the skeleton skulls possess several blades inside them angled inward. Harmless reaching in, though pulling your hand out will likely result in slicing your hand. With that being said, let your challenge begin."

With that, the voice clicked off, leaving the shinobi alone once again.

Word Count - 1113

Total Word Count - 2121

"Hey thanks!! I'm Pinochio Pinochio, one of the prominant genin of Kiri looking to rise quickly through the ranks with my powerful str--Woah. Good job Gonk. I mean sir. Heck. You really are as strong as I've heard." Weill this was awkward. Pinoch had never actually met gonk, and it seemed pretty obvious that he'd never heard of the three and a half foot tall boy, but he'd overheard something about saya doing a mission with him and immediately determined this was someone he needed to impress. Speaking of impressing, as the voice spoke, He looked about the first test. This seemed....Exactly the opposite of what they were equipped to do. Looks like its time to go freestyle.

Pinochio stepped up to the gate. Glancing left and right, he determined there has to be a way to take care of this with brute force instead of like. smarts or consideration or something. No one actually solved problems like that! If he couldn't punch the gate for fear of killing them all....what if he could punch something else? He picked a bit of wall just far off enough that he hoped it wouldn't screw everything up and let loose with another powerful strike. About ten meters to the left of the door, he found his hand just kind of sunk in. It was a door! Behind a section of painted rock he found a hidden door probably used by the devious mastermind. He pulled it open and stepped inside.

"Welcome players. You've found your way to room four of my little game. The challenge is simple. In the center of the room is a pit. At the bottom is a bit of a biting surprise. Fill the container in the center of the room with the contents of the pit and a key will be released from the ceiling. You will need to complete all rooms to exit this place safely. Good luck. " The voice sounded a bit frusterated as it explained the requirements for the next room. maybe he wasn't supposed to go out of order? Either way if they split up, they could absolutely cover more ground.

"Hey gang. gonna take care of this one real quick while yall figure out that one. Someone grab the key in a second so yall can move on while im climbing back up?" He waited for confirmation, and then lept down the hole.

A smart person would have lept near the wall, hoping to use his weapon to slow his descent. Plus side: that wasn't a problem, as there were platforms every fifteen feet. Downside: He hit the first one so hard he bounced. What happened next was true to pinochio fashion. He bounced off five platforms, feeling bones shatter from the impact before finally taking last drop. At the bottom were black mumbas. Very cranky. Very deadly. Very much not his problem. Falling face first his small body found the container that was meant to be filled with snakes, down at the bottom of another hole, and with a heavy splat he landed in place of the snakes. A key released, hanging limply from the ceiling by the door as pinochio woke up from his dream now back in his bed in Kiri.

"I...Really hope they survived."

(TWC 1148/500 my portion complete and death required part of the puzzle complete! claiming 4100 ryo, 20 ap, and 6 tickets. putting 752 towards twin rising dragons(2750/2750) previous training and the last 396 towards anything goes style (1396/2k previous training exit)