Get Ready (Private)

Midori smirked. “You OK Squirt?” she taunted, just teasing her a bit with the nickname she had come up with after their first fight. She wasn’t really trying to antagonize her the way Satori would to get into someone’s head, but Midori wasn’t much for joking most of the time, so when the opportunity did come up, she enjoyed taking it with those she liked. It was interesting to see how Riku had wound up in their lives,

But things were lining up exactly the way she was hoping; she had Riku on the backfoot, not able to act too quickly. She was a bit over halfway charged… just a bit more time and she would be able to act with complete confidence. Pressing her luck wouldn’t get her anywhere, but then a curious question crossed her mind, and she just had to ask. “If you go into the ocean, what happens?” This was actually a legitimate question, more than just her stalling Riku now, because she didn’t want to toss her in the water and she dissolve or something.

Midori considered Riku like a member of the family already, and would go to the ends of the earth to make sure she wasn’t taken, was safe, and didn’t feel the need to leave her like her original family. Yea, there was still some issues there, but she was working on getting stronger for the explicit purpose of hunting down her father and getting him to answer for what he had done.

[13]

Chakra: 92/185
Nature Chakra: 40/90

The taunts earned Midori an irritated twitch. Still, she didn't rush in, knowing full well that would be playing into the taller woman's hands. Riku shrugged.

"You have odd timing, Mi-chan," the blue-haired teen replied, tilting her head at Midori's question. Another plan of action started to form in her mind.

"I'd get wet. Like any other person." A shrug followed. "If I liquefied I'd get too much salt in my system, I expect. Like drinking a bathtub of ocean water."

Then, Riku began to walk forward, as if they weren't in the middle of a spar. "Want to see a new move I learned?"

She sprinted forward and ducked aiming a kick at Midori's legs. She swung the leg around to gain momentum, switched which leg she was balanced on and aimed another kick higher up. However, her leg extended about a half a meter beyond its normal length.

[14]

WTF:

Odd timing indeed, but it was still a concern that needed to be addressed. And in truth, there wasn’t much odd about the timing; she needed to know if she was going to wind up hurting her friend if she tossed her in the ocean, but the unexpected side effect was that she had also gained some valuable information that she could very well put to use. Granted that was going to happen right this moment, as she watched Riku approach, certain the blue haired woman had a plan. The rules said they couldn’t hit the woodline, but said nothing about the water.

The kick came in low, and with a small hop, she avoided the blow easily, but her eyes went wide as the follow up kick seemed to extend in a way that had nothing to do with her water abilities. Unable to dodge it properly in mid-air, mostly because she had thought she was out of range, Midori was forced to block, and moved to catch the limb. She was in a bad situation at the moment, because the moment she made physical contact, she knew she would liquify and probably try to inhibit her movement. So, using her brand new batch of information, and with the grabbed leg, she threw her, and herself, into the ocean.

Maybe it would act as a deterrent for Riku using the water form, which was her strongest asset… but they were about to find out. Sure, the water was only shin-deep, but that was enough.

Chakra: 92/185
Nature Chakra: 50/90

Riku let out a yelp as Midori attempted to throw her, liquefying the instant she felt the tall teen's hands and fell to the ground.

Midori landed in the water holding on to the lower part of Riku's now detached leg. Meanwhile, the rest of Riku solidified, still in the clearing.

"What the hell Midori!" She shouted. "That's my leg! I need that!" Being disconnected like this was highly uncomfortable, and something Riku hadn't known she could do. She'd panicked and merely acted on instinct, triggering some ingrained reflex she hadn't even been aware of.

Grumbling, she extended what was left of her right leg until the limb reached the length of the intact one, allowing her to stand properly.

"Let's call this one a draw!"

[15]

Techniques:

Midori had been expecting a lot of things, but THAT... that was not one of them and her look of clear surprise was easy to see as she landed in the water in a heap, still holding onto a leg that was detached at the knee. She just laid there in the water for a moment, looking at Riku, then back at the leg, then back at Riku. How the ever loving hell did that work? Was it still a part of Riku? Curiosity drove her to do a single action that she knew would work; she tickled the woman’s foot for a moment.

Once she got a reaction, one way or another, that indicated if this was still indeed a connected part of the woman’s body, she would stand up as she wanted to call this particular match a draw, and gained an actual frown. She had a lot of Nature Chakra built up within her now, and she didn’t have an outlet for it, so that would stand to be a problem. Slowly and with great care, she moved to put the leg back onto Riku where it belongs, taking special care to make sure the knee lined up the way it was supposed to be and watching for a reaction.

[15]

Chakra: 92/185
Nature Chakra: 60/90

Riku yelped when Midori tickled her foot and the limb in the green haired woman's hand squirmed as best as it could to get away. Fortunately, the leg was returned to its owner shortly after.

Riku let the part of her leg still extended retract to its natural size and then liquefied her leg, both the detached part and her thigh. When it solidified her leg was whole again as if nothing had happened.

"This is the first time that's ever happened," the blue-haired genin said, wiggling her toes experimentally.

She stood and brushed herself off. "You alright, Mi-chan?" Riku looked up at her.

[16]

Midori had been expecting a lot of things, but THAT... that was not one of them and her look of clear surprise was easy to see as she landed in the water in a heap, still holding onto a leg that was detached at the knee. She just laid there in the water for a moment, looking at Riku, then back at the leg, then back at Riku. How the ever loving hell did that work? Was it still a part of Riku? Curiosity drove her to do a single action that she knew would work; she tickled the woman’s foot for a moment.

Once she got a reaction, one way or another, that indicated if this was still indeed a connected part of the woman’s body, she would stand up as she wanted to call this particular match a draw, and gained an actual frown. She had a lot of Nature Chakra built up within her now, and she didn’t have an outlet for it, so that would stand to be a problem. Slowly and with great care, she moved to put the leg back onto Riku where it belongs, taking special care to make sure the knee lined up the way it was supposed to be and watching for a reaction.

[16]

Chakra: 92/185
Nature Chakra: 60/90

Riku frowned, concerned for her friend. She observed Midori carefully, her newly reattached limb all but forgotten. Had that been part of the taller teen's game plan? If so, had she been preparing to use her new form? Perhaps the solution was for Midori to transform into her giant form and work off some steam.

"Another round? Your nature chakra and techniques against me and the tricks up my sleeve, how about it?"

Riku was nervous, of course, but she had a feeling letting that nature chakra stay pent up would be worse than any venting session. She steeled herself, mind already thinking of ways to fend off a super-powered Midori.

[17]

It was a very curious thing that not only did she retain motor function in the limb, but she also sense of touch as well, able to be tickled while it was detached. It must have been a part of her bloodline, and it was interesting to see that she too had never done that before, a first as they discovered it together. In that case, she didn’t mind having tickled her, as that information would be very important for Riku as well going forward. It was always interesting discovering something about your bloodline that you hadn’t known before.

Riku asked if she was alright, and suddenly the thoughts on bloodlines made her veins run cold as she felt what was happening within her. She had absorbed a lot of Nature Chakra at this point… and while she had instinctively wanted to tell the blue haired teen that everything was fine, she knew that wasn’t the case. Riku deserved to know the truth, and she gently shook her head side to side. “Too much… nature chakra…” she would mutter, turning off the absorption before she got to capacity. But she needed an outlet, pure and simple.

[17]

Chakra: 92/185
Nature Chakra: 70/90

"That works. It will be a useful skill if I can figure out how it works."

Riku offered Midori an arm. "We can see if this comes off, too. You can give it a pull and I'll try to detach."

The blue-haired genin tried to reimagine the feeling of her leg coming off at the knee and began liquefying the inside of her elbow in preparation. She narrowed her eyes at the limb while she concentrated. "Okay. I think I'm ready. Go for it."

[18]

She shook her head again… and performed her Calming Steps, and then she transformed nigh instantly. Growing to just a hair over ten feet tall, muscles the size of small boulders and her hair, now a bright green, standing up in all directions. Her eyes glowed bright with a lime green power, and looking down at Riku, she smiled. “I have this under control now… just need to let it vent.” Already she could feel the Nature Chakra draining from her as the form used it as fuel. But even as huge as she was, she got to one knee and looked at the woman’s leg again.

“Instinct. Want to try again? Control is important.”[/color] She was the absolute epitome of why control over your bloodline was important, and she had a firm hold on her own bloodline now, so her focus was on the completely new thing that Riku had. It wouldn’t have been fair to start the next match already; she had already charged herself up and it would put Riku at a severe disadvantage, and the green haired monstrosity did have a sense of honor when it came to combat that she wasn’t going to be stomping on simply because it would allow her to win.

Hollow Victory wasn’t victory at all.

[18]

Chakra: 92/185
Nature Chakra: 50/90

Technique: Transformation : Upkeep 20 Nature Chakra per post

At first, the tugging was uncomfortable, but then it started to hurt. Riku grit her teeth and tried to focus on liquefying part of her arm at the joint, but not the entire limb.

Her eyes were tearing up within seconds, but then her elbow liquefied and her forearm came off in one of Midori's hands. Then, Riku focused on her shoulder until that too separated from her body. The blue-haired genin's shoulder wavered before detaching from her torso.

"Ah, we did it!" Riku cheered. "It's tough because I have to liquefy where I want to break off but leave everything else solid. I usually liquefy larger parts of my body or the whole thing."

A moment later, she got a glint in her eye. "Hey Midori, put my arm back and let's see if we can split me in half."

[19]

Midori nodded at the logic, but seem worried. Sure, what she wanted to do made sense, but it was a bit of a gamble; she would need to pull with enough force to detach the limb, but without doing so if the technique failed so she didn’t hurt Riku. With her current strength, that would be a very possible outcome, and she would never forgive herself; but she also knew the risks involved with discovering what your bloodline could do.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

She wrapped one massive hand around each part, easily grasping around her entire arm with her enlarged hands, and began to pull with escalating force. This was also a method of testing; did it require substantial force to do this? If so, it wouldn’t be too effective in combat… but if it was easy, she could literally do something crazy as a water-rocket punch or some such shenanigans… even launch her hands to choke the enemy from afar.

Lots of possibilities.

[19]

Chakra: 92/185
Nature Chakra: 30/90

Once her arm was back on, Riku stretched it a few times and wiggled her fingers. "Definitely not comfortable, but I'll get used to it."

Practical applications of such an ability far outweighed some discomfort in the process of learning to control it. Thus, the short woman squeaked a bit as Midori picked her up and squeezed her butt and chest, but tolerated the position and the growing discomfort as the green haired woman began to pull her upper and lower halves in opposite directions.

With a grunt, Riku managed to liquefy her midsection enough to come apart. Her hips remained wrapped in one of Midori's arms, legs dangling, while her upper half stayed secure a few inches above it. She used her arms to brace herself against Midori's arm to avoid slipping and grinned.

"We did it!" Riku cheered. She looked down curiously at her lower half. Where her torso and hips previously connected, a thick layer of watery substance covered what should have been a gaping hole.

"This is great!"

[20]

Initially, Midori worried because she could see the pain on Riku’s face, and she almost stopped as the girl began to tear up, but she wasn’t told to stop, so she didn’t… and she was rewarded with a couple of limbs, one in each hand. It was an incredibly disconcerting sight, just holding some limbs there, but she hadn’t even meant to take off the upper arm, just separate the arm at the elbow… oh well, no harm done it seemed like.

The massive dark skinned woman nodded as she said she had to focus on it, and then made a follow up request, wanting to try something a little more drastic, and she nodded again in reply. After carefully replacing the limbs and ensuring they were attached to the right place, she moved behind Riku. In her enlarged form, this was a simple task, wrapping one massive arm around her hips and grabbing hold, unintentionally grabbing her butt, and the other wrapping just beneath the blue haired woman’s chest.

Midori had no concept of personal space and all that, so for her, this was nothing out of the ordinary. She just needed to try to literally rip her sister in half… no big deal. She applied extremely gentle pressure and slowly made it stronger, listening carefully for any signs of distress as one arm pulled her chest upwards, and the other pulled her hips downward.

[20]

Riku let out a whoop as Midori tossed her upper half into the air. Once she was back in the green-haired woman's grip, she hugged her, cheek pressing against Midori's.

"Thank you, Mi-chan," the blue-haired teen said earnestly.

Her lower half did an excited little jump followed by a jig.

"Can you put me back together now?" Riku asked. "We can figure out more applications of this when we go over our spar. It feels weird being separated like this."

Once she was in one piece the shorter teen stretched. "After we talk about how fighting against each other worked, we should try to think of how to use our abilities together."

[21]

The feeling of Riku’s body separating, and the apparent success, was a glad one. She could feel her nature chakra completely tapped out, and quickly, she set Riku’s legs down, hopefully allowing them to stand on their own, while she retained a grab on the watery woman’s upper body as she shrank. The dark skin faded back to it’s normal hue, and her arms resumed their toned look instead of monstrous and bulky, her height coming back down by four feet. She could feel the burn in her body, but nothing that she couldn’t handle; she was becoming much better at transforming back and forth.

Now that she was her normal size, and didn’t have to worry about ever-changing limb lengths, she tossed Riku’s upper body in the air and spun her around so that she was facing her, holding Riku by her stomach’s sides, just above the divide in her body. “Better than a replacement jutsu to deceive the enemy. Well done.” Midori didn’t give out praise all that often, but she did when it was deserved, and this was one of those situations. The practical applications to what she could do with this ability was staggering.

[21]

Riku turned pink when Midori grabbed her butt, but held still until she was fully intact. She accepted the taller teen's invitation with a quick smile and sat down on a log near their things. Once she was settled and Midori was seated beside her, Riku began to talk.

"You're faster and stronger than I am, but my bloodline and some of the techniques I've learned recently have allowed me to keep up. Your chakra ball is something I still have difficulty countering. You don't know many ninjutsu yet, but you have a lot of chakra. I know a lot of water techniques and have better control, but I have less stamina than you. We can cover each other's weaknesses if we learn to coordinate some of our techniques.

"More importantly, we have more options for countering Satori. He uses a lot of genjutsu and ninjutsu and he's tricky. One of the things I had trouble countering was his shadow clone technique, but now we both know it. He's fast and strong, too."

[22]

Midori gave Riku a small smile at the hug, reciprocating it and was very thankful that the blue haired teen was in her life the way she was. It was nice to have something other than the raw ruthless demeanor that the Ryuutei lifestyle was; there was nothing wrong with it, certainly, but breaking it up once in a while was welcome.

The larger girl nodded as she requested to be put back together, grabbing the legs by the butt and holding it still as the pieces were put back together careful and releasing the girl all together as she finished the liquifying process. Now came the discussion part of the whole deal, and Midori was excited; she genuinely liked strategy and planning, even if she didn’t talk all that much. She nodded enthusiastically and gestured to where their bags were with the food and whatnot, inviting her to sit there so they could replenish themselves while they spoke.

[22]

"You'd have to force him near or onto me so I can grab him," Riku concluded. "You may not be able to land a direct unless he is slowed, but you could lead him into a trap." She tapped her chin a few times. "The only other way would be a technique that he can't dodge easily. My water bullet technique gave him trouble last time we sparred but I'm sure he's gotten stronger since. I could try to distract him from a distance while you fight him up close."

The blue-haired geniny eyes trailed over Midori's scroll. "We could also combine our powers to make attacks that are stronger or faster." Then, her eyes lit up, "Mi-chan, how hard can you throw things?"

The taller woman would practically be able to see the gears turning in Riku's mind. Whatever came next would lead them to something interesting.

[23]

Midori nodded a few times at the explanation, looking out towards the sea with a thoughtful expression as she put things together in her mind. “I have been developing some techniques…” With that, she would reach into her pack and pull out her scroll that had a bunch of different ideas and plans on it for techniques for her to look over, and one thing that could be noted was that most of them involved using her Nature Chakra that she drew in constantly. If she mastered them, she would have a nearly unlimited source of techniques without ever tapping into her personal stamina, and a new way to vent her Nature Chakra without having to transform.

But now was the time for ideas for defeating Satori, and in her mind, it was simple. “He defeats me because I cannot out-pace him. Too agile. If you root him, I can pummel him into the earth… but how would you catch him?” It was a serious problem because Midori knew he couldn’t be tricked into a trap very easily, and the blue haired teen wasn’t as fast as she herself was and even she couldn’t keep up.

[23]

Riku watched Midori launch the stone with approval. "What if you threw me like that? He will move to avoid me so I can't grab him, forcing his hand. If I extend my limbs, I can get him to dodge again and you can take advantage, especially if you can throw me like that."

Then, Midori brought another possibility to her attention. "You mean like armor?" Her eyebrows scrunched in thought as she considered the idea. "That could work, too. It would allow you to carry me hands-free. I would be able to try and grab him while you try to fight him or partially solidify to perform techniques."

A few moments later, Riku said, "If you wear me, you'll be extra vulnerable to lightning techniques. Satori can imitate those with genjutsu. We need a way to counter that. Perhaps we can keep an eye on each other in case of genjutsu to nullify some of his tricks. The only thing left is to try it. There's no reason I wouldn't be able to surround you, although holding on might prove difficult."

[24]

Midori considered what was being said… luring Satori into a trap was hard, he was just too aware of his surroundings and she couldn’t pressure him enough to make him lose his cool. She would have to come up with a way to get close and keep him from kiting her like he normally did, dancing around the outside of her range and wearing her down. Her mind was cranking these thoughts and trying to come up with new ideas, she was asked a question that seriously made her question where the blue haired teen was going with it. Throwing things?

She stood, grabbing a fist sized stone from the ground and looking over the sea. She reared back, and then hurled it forward as hard as she could, and it sounded like someone had just launched a missile as the stone took off. It smashed through two waves without even bothering to slow down, leaving gaping holes in the waves and causing the water underneath it to separate a bit from the wind-wake. Happy that the example would be enough, she watched it splash into the distance as it finally came to a stop and then looked towards Riku before taking her seat again.

An idea passed through her mind as she did. “Combining Strengths. Could you cover my skin? You would have all my speed and be able to use your techniques while I chase him down.” It was just an idea, and the green haired teen didn’t know how feasible it was.

[24]

Riku nodded at Midori's feedback, fingers tapping her thigh and if typing notes on the green-haired woman's thoughts.

"You're right, I was thinking of water bullet style launching, but that is definitely a risk."

The idea of being drunk made the short woman wrinkle her nose in distaste. No one had ever attempted to drink her and she preferred to keep it that way. Besides, the idea of mixing with the contents of someone's stomach was unpleasant. Fortunately, Midori moved onto other possibilities rather quickly.

"That's brilliant. If I'm in your clothes, it will be harder to target me, plus if you learn how to disrupt genjutsu for other people, you could easily channel chakra into me if I'm so close. There's a technique for that. I can show you." Riku looked excited again.

"But first, to try the armor. Hold still."

The short woman set a hand on Midori's arm and began to liquefy, snaking up the tall woman's arm and into her shirt. Within two minutes, Riku had completely liquefied and climbed into Midori's clothes, surrounding the tall woman with a thin layer of her liquefied body. There was a gentle pressure as Riku contracted to hold on to Midori.

A moment later Riku's head reformed on Midori's shoulder.

"How's this?"

Techniques:

[25]

Midori looked up to the sky, her mind still cranking over the details and trying to come up with solutions to the problems they would still face. “Throwing ‘water’ at that speed will cause the air to make you disperse… might not be viable.” She hated to shoot down any idea from her friend, but the cold reality was that they still had to deal with real world physics, and any plan that involved rapid movement would need for Riku to be able to move at that speed normally. Still, it was something to keep in the back of her mind, and she would for the foreseeable future.

“Like armor would work… or… could I swallow you and spit you out at him? No, you wouldn’t be able to form yourself at all…”[/color] she continued to ponder this, her eyes narrowing as her brain intensified its efforts in that regard. [color=teal]“I have countermeasures against Genjutsu. Nature Chakra can purge it from my system. Not sure how to help you though…” because she didn’t know ‘Kai’ which would allow her to dispel it from another person. Besides, the ‘fake’ attacks didn’t last long enough for a Kai to mitigate and dispel the damage it did to a person’s mind when it ‘felt’ very real.

It was not a mind over matter situation.

“What if you stayed inside my clothes. They could help contain you while I move.” Again, the absolute lack of shame in this regard was something that didn’t bother Midori in the slightest. It was simply another tactic, a strategy that could be employed and if a little shamelessness boosted the success rate, she was all for it.

[25]