Beaches, Bravado, and Building a Sand Castle

The sand beneath his feet was warm, feeling pleasant as he plodded along towards the starting line and considered what exactly he had just gotten himself into. This was no simple race- there were a ton of people here for this thing! Some manner of competition had drawn in spectators and athletics alike to watch as a day was dedicated completely to an assortment of competitions meant to stoke the fires of competitive beach games. This race was the third and final relay before some manner of a finale, but Joski hadn't been paying close enough attention to what exactly that entailed before opening his big mouth to defend the fun of a kid he had only just met. Still, the look of defeat on the kid's face when his hard work went up in a cloud of sand thanks to a wayward ball was enough to provoke even the typically stoic traveler to action. And thus Joski would find himself settling into a starting line for a race down the beach next to a trio of snot-nosed punks that leered and jabbed at him with petty remarks.

With the help of his wide-rimmed sunglasses, Joski did his best to block out the half-sized haters and focus on the real goal: keeping his dignity while putting these little punks in their place. Beating them in a foot race should be a breeze; he made faster time between the western countries than some merchants make in a year. Sure, this was on sand and he was barefooted, but so was everyone else. Taking up his stance, he listened to the murmur of the crowd and set his sights beyond tinted rims to the far end of the beach where an old lighthouse juts from a small inlet of rocking outcroppings just off the coast. The lighthouse marked the edge of the beach as beyond it lay a vast beach of oversized rocks that rest against the border of a forest. This was the finish line. His goal.

"Racers! On your mark!" This was it. In unison, the people on the line all shifted into a readied position. Some took a step forward, some leaned, and some went so far as to hunch to the ground and put one hand down like they would pull themselves forward to begin. "Get set!" The megaphone blared from somewhere to his right, manned by one of the coordinators for the event. Joski removed his hand and let out a short sigh as he crouched and prepared to sprint. "GO!" A pop sounded as something ignited, firing into the air, and in an instant, the area was filled with kicked-up sand as a dozen bodies tore down the beach, Joski amongst them.

It didn't take the traveler long to realize just what sort of class he was up against. Certainly, he was fast, but there were others quite capable of keeping up with him. Even those three brats were displaying more agility than even he had prepared for. Feeling the line begin to slip away from him, Joski would grit his teeth and call chakra to the bottoms of his feet, focusing on the soles as he felt the sinking pull of the sand fall away from him and allow him much more ease of running as the sand didn't absorb so much of the impact through the thin layer of chakra. A simple technique but one Joski could accomplish with minimal effort, allowing him to begin catching back up on the pack that had gained a bit of distance on him.

Then the first explosion erupted. A puff of air and sand as one of the race's obstacles was revealed by the front runner. The muscular man who had been out in front was sent flying into the air, buffeted by the blast of air, and sent tumbling into the sand. The landing looked like it might have left a couple of bruises but nothing the man would be suffering from. "What the heck kind of race is this?! No one said anything about any obstacles!" Joski mentally anguished. Suddenly finding his position more advantageous, he allowed those still rushing ahead to keep their distance and followed their tracks, which successfully removed two more competitors before the last leg of the race was reached. "Perfect, now it's just me and-" his thought was cut short as a movement in the corner of his eye pulled his attention. It was one of those kids, and he was moving right for Joski. Behind as they were, this little punk was likely trying to make some sort of crazy move to take Joski out of the race.

Thinking on his feet, Joski pumped the breaks by digging his heel into the sand, watching as the kid jumped and threw himself at Joski in an attempt to knock the older boy over only to go sailing past Joski and land face first into the sand. With a snub of a laugh, Joski kicked back into gear and raced towards the end only to spot the other two kids. One of them had turned around and made himself an obstacle for Joski, the other continuing to race ahead and quickly closing in on the finish line. The brow of the traveler furrowed as he clenched his jaw, though his lips would press into a grin. "So that's the way you want to play it, huh? Underestimate me, will you." Putting his hands together, he formed a single hand seal and leaned forward to break into a waving sprint, moving from side to side as the child moved to block him. The weaving became dramatic as he neared the second kid until he pushed one left only to cut a sharp right, forcing the kid to put most of himself to the left and begin unable to respond before Joski could call his chakra once more. 

Body Flicker activated, putting a shadow of an image behind him as Joski blurred forward and past the waiting guard, but it was not just the guard Joski was outmaneuvering- he'd use this jutsu to win the race once and for all. With the distance closing, it was going to be close and had the kid in the lead not taken a moment to look behind him, he might have won. But just as his eyes passed over his shoulder, the blur of Joski shot past him, crossing the tape that was being held up by two more of the coordinators and sealing his spot at number one in the race. "And we have a winner!" Came a call over the megaphone, with further calls of congratulations coming shortly after as the others in the head of the pack crossed shortly after.

Having taken a moment to catch his breath, Joski would be approached with a wreath of flowers that would be put around his neck by a woman in a fake grass skirt who looked like she had been out in the sun most of the day already, a wide-brimmed reed hat resting atop her head. "Congratulations on coming in first! This automatically puts you in a position to compete in the finale- the surfing contest! And if you win that, you walk away with a fabulous cash prize!"

"I don't know, I kind of just wanted to race because- wait, did you say cash prize?" Joski said, picking himself up and plucking at the floral necklace he had been endowed with. It wasn't as though Joski would always jump at the mention of cash, but being on vacation was beginning to make his wallet feel a little thin. Perhaps this was going to be a good way to not walk away from the beach feeling like he was going to have to work all that savings back.

Before any other information could be given, one of the kids that had attempted to stop Joski appeared with a rather lunk-headed older model that must have come from the same manufacturer. Square of jaw and thick of skull, the blonde man would approach Joski once he was pointed out by the kid. "So, you think you are cool pickin' on kids like that huh? Well, guess what, chump, I'm also in the surfing contest. So if you want to get that cash, you're going to have to go through me to get it, and I'm not going easy on you. Hear me? You'll be sunk if you cross paths with me!"

Joski groaned, wondering if he had sounded like that when he had spoken to those kids earlier. Now all those laughs made sense. But comedic relief or not, Joski now had another obstacle between him and getting back to relaxing. "Well, whatever. If your dad is going to get pissed when you lose the surf contest, might as well go get him now because I'm not trying to spend all day proving myself to the whole family line."

WC - 1,494

[ 3,063 / 3,500]

Additional Mission:

It had all happened so quickly. One minute, Joski had been awkwardly standing on the beach with a board in hand, preparing to test himself in some manner of sport the locals called "surfing" for the very first time in his whole life. Something about keeping himself balanced on a board while it moved across the water, and moving with the waves in order to give the appearance that he was gliding along the crest of a wave that surged towards the land, giving the board momentum and testing the riders reflexes of being able to stay on top while moving. It had all seemed so daunting at first, with the very notion being rather worrisome, but as Joski had taken to the water, it felt almost like the surf had embraced him. He had always felt a natural connection to water and had even been told by the Old Man that his chakra seemed uniquely aligned with the water element. So when the waves carried Joski from spot to spot, it had almost begun to feel like the traveler was flying. He gripped the board beneath his feet tightly, shifting his weight this way and that in order to better acclimate to the throws of the current that rolled beneath him, and yet it all felt so natural. For a time, Joski entertained the thought of giving up on the life of a traveler and staying here, on this beach, for the rest of his days. Trading in his weathered cloak for a hut out in the woods, making a living getting paid to guard the beach. It all felt serene. It was almost enough to make Joski forget that he was in active competition with other people, though the screeching call of his would-be rival made sure that his thoughts never got too far away from the coast.

Around him, others had already fallen from their boards, disqualifying them from the competition. Some actively attempted to sabotage others by cutting through their wave while others simply found themselves tackling a current they were not prepared for and sending themselves to an early seat on the beach. Before he really realized what was going on, Joski found himself pit against only one other opponent: the older brother of the boy that had been shown up in the race. Any semblance of peace would go out the window as he and the older troublemaker would be paddling their way back out into the ocean in order to catch another ride. "Hey! Shori! Tell you what. One last wave, you and me. Winner take all. Think you have it in you to take on last year's champ?" the man boasted, sitting up on his board.

Joski would follow suit, his legs dangling over the side as he settled into a standing position. Purple eyes cast over the distant blue horizon of the ocean as he watched the inkling of a wave begin to form before Joski looked back to the challenger. "Fine, suit yourself. I'm starting to get hungry anyway." A dismissive response that earned a glower from the challenger as the two of them went back to belly on the board, paddling back towards the shore as the both of them got picked up and began to get carried. Nearly in unison, the two of them jumped up on their feet, and while Joski was intent on heading away from the loud mouth, the other seemed keen on following. And so the two of them would begin to race down the length of the wave, both crouching low as the wave began to rise to an unusual height. Apparently, the two of them had opted to catch the biggest wave of the evening and make it their dueling ground to settle this little matter of beach justice once and for all.

The two settled in near side by side as they pushed themselves along the quickly growing wall of water, and Joski kept a careful eye on his opponent. The man was skilled, no doubt, but it had become a matter of pride, and Joski wasn't about to let it slip when he had come so far. So when the older boy attempted to swipe Joski off his board, the traveler was prepared. Slanting his board sideways, Joski climbed the wall of water like a rocket before he channeled just enough water chakra under his board and gave it a push. In a brilliant display, Joski turned in the air, leaving the surface as it began to curl and barreling over his opponent, who was spending more time watching Joski than he was the wave, sending him careening into the mount of water and flinging him from his board just as Joski came to land squarely on the other side, shooting from the tube of water like a bullet. The unveiling of only one man standing brought applause from the onlooking crowd on shore, and Joski couldn't help but press a smile up along the sides of his cheeks as he caught sight of the kid that he had started this whole thing over cheering alongside the other.


Back on the shore, Joski was wearing a new necklace of flowers and had a pocket full of cash. There was a trophy as well, but it had been offered to play the centerpiece for the brand new sand castle that he and the kid had started making. Now left to their own devices, the small bronze cup with the emblazoned "#1" on the front of it served as the tallest central structure for the castle made of sand, offering support to the walls around it. "You were cool out there. I wish I could surf. It looks like so much fun!" The kid grinned, looking to Joski though before the traveler could respond, another shout would pull his attention away. A pair of adults that had come from the beach some ways down and were already shouting at each other. It was so disruptive that one would have to be deaf to have not caught wind of it. Doubly so for Joski as the two began to near their position.

"That them?" Joski asked, flicking his head to the kid, who would look over his shoulder before looking back to Joski and nodding. Joski, figuring he had it in himself to deal with one more problem, would pick himself up and brush himself off before making to intercept the path of the yelling adults on their way to their child. A sharp whistle from the river lad would at least draw their attention away from each other enough to land their burning gaze on Joski, who would meet their burning stare with a cool one of his own. "Hey. Instead of bickering like children. How about spending some time with your kid? Instead of screaming at each other, maybe think about what you are doing to the person who should mean the most to you." The initial barrage brought both the parents to silence, pausing in their tracks. "You didn't have it in you to give the kid any brothers or sisters, and you dragged him all the way here to have fun on your honeymoon. And yet I- a complete stranger- had to show the kid how to stand up for himself. Maybe take a moment to take your fingers out of the eyes of each other and build a damn sand castle!"

The last words had a little more bite to them than he was intending, but the whole matter seemed ridiculous. Looking past Joski to their son, the two offered quiet words of apology before moving to settle in with the kid and his sand castle, offering praise for the work of their boy in an apologetic tone. Joski cared little for the cup that now played a central role in the castle, and instead of retrieving it, just offered the boy a small wave and turned his back to the family in hopes they could collect themselves long enough to actually have some fun. Meanwhile, he had a fruity drink with a twisty straw calling his name somewhere on the beach.

WC - 1,364
TWC - 4,427 / 4,000

[Exit. Missions Accomplished]

Claims:

Approved