It was worse than she'd expected. A section of pedestrian tunnel, about sixty feet long, had collapsed. The briefing hadn't been clear on just how many people were inside, just that they had to get them out as soon as possible. It was a daunting task. Arumi was glad to have Lil Sal at her side, she knew with her little bro she could handle anything. She turned to him. “You get started, I gotta transform a bit. I'll be right behind you.”

The taller genin dropped to one knee, growling. Technically it was unhealthy and horribly unpleasant to do simultaneous transformations, but she didn't have time to dawdle. Her ears stretched to long points, her tongue grew and forked, and her entire body started to grow. The loose clothing she'd been wearing became tighter as she grew nearly nine feet tall, and much more muscular than she'd been. She lumbered after Sal, treading lightly so her now-increased weight wouldn't shake anything loose. She could hear and smell the people under the rubble. Arumi spoke again, her voice much louder and deeper now. “We gotta get through this bit here first. Think you can break it safely?” She hadn't used her Brute jutsu in a situation like this before, so she wasn't sure just how strong it made her, but in case Sal didn't have a jutsu for this she was ready to try lifting the debris.

[Words: 237]

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It wasn't long until the pair of Donzoko Genin had reached the site of their first collaborative mission, Xsalice was instructed to go on ahead while Arumi stayed back to better prepare herself for the task at hand. At the entrance of the caved-in tunnel Xsalice dropped down on his left knee, he grabbed some of the rubble in his left hand as he shifted it between his fingers, analyzing it in search of a cause for the present destruction. "Hmm . . . Something just doesn't sit right with me about this . . ." Xsalice mumbled to himself while standing back up, Arumi arrived shortly after. An eyebrow was raised at Arumi's new appearance, it was definitely more menacing. "Nice transformation Sis, I didn't think you could get any cuter!" He flashed a smile before getting back to the task at hand.

A nod was given in agreement to Arumi assigning Xsalice his first task of the mission. ". . . Seems I've got to clear the rubble without causing more damage . . . Let's see what I can do . . ." Before outstretching his right hand and placing that palm on a rock toward the center of the pile of rubble, Xsalice performed a series of hand signs. A seal in the shape of ∞ was left behind as Xsalice removed his hand from the rock formation. "Kaku" was what he uttered before thin black lines began to spread out in a four-foot diameter originating from the seal. Xsalice then sent his foot coursing threw the seal, everywhere in which the seal spread to came crumbling down also, this left behind a 4 foot entrance into the tunnel.

Xsalice walked to the side of the entrance and outstretched his left hand in a gentlemanly fashion. "I believe this should work, right? After you madame." If all things kept up going as smoothly as they were so far then Arumi and Xsalice would be finished with their mission in no time.



Word Count: 319 as of Wordcounter.net

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Spoiler:

“Ha, thanks.” She wasn't sure if the comment about being cute was a joke or something else, but it was a nice gesture. She knew that most people wouldn't refer to a four-armed muscled hulk as cute, but maybe Lil Sal just had unusual tastes. She grinned right back at him, kneeling down next to her little bro. It was pretty cool seeing him at work, she didn't know he could disintegrate things like that. “Pretty badass, Sal.” She crawled through the hole ahead of him. With her new size it was a tight fit, but she made it.

Arumi straightened up once she got to the other side, taking stock of things. There was a slab ahead of them that had fallen. She could smell people under it, and hear several heartbeats. She cocked her head, listening carefully. Four, by the sound of it. Arumi grabbed onto the slab with all four arms, crouching down to lift it. “Sal, I got four survivors under here. Think you can get em?” She stood, lifting the block over her head. It was relatively easy with her Brute strength, and gave more than enough room for Sal to slip in and get people out. Arumi was going say something about this being easy, but then she looked under the slab she had lifted. The monster girl's face fell.

There were six people there.

[Words this post 232, total so far 469]

A bow was given in response to Arumi's "Badass", it seemed that both Xsalice and Arumi had a mutual respect for the abilities that the other had. "Thanks, now lets get to rescuing these trapped villagers!" After Arumi managed to barely squeeze into the four-foot entrance Xsalice did the same, although with relatively more ease. Of course Xsalice could have made the entrance bigger, but he wanted to conserve chakra in the event that something else might occur within the tunnel and he was being cautious that a sixteen foot entrance might have caused another cave-in.

A difference in temperature could be felt as the two walked through the passages of the tunnel, it was significant enough that Xsalice's breath could be seen as he simply breathed in and out. "Roger that." Xsalice watched as Arumi lifted the slab over her head with what looked like ease, a smile crept across his face he shook his head and dipped underneath to begin the rescue. The smile on his face dropped as the image of four children, two of which were older than Xsalice while the other two were younger, huddled around the what seemed like lifeless bodies of their parents. A paralyzed state fell over Xsalice as the image of his mother replaced that of the children's mother within his eyes.

Xsalice remained paralyzed while the two older children pulled their parents from underneath the path of the slab. In his mind, Xsalice replayed the events of the day his mother had died. The feeling of guilt began to weigh back down on him, It wasn't until the youngest of the children, a blonde haired girl, tugged on Xsalice's pants leg did he snap back to reality. "Whaa . . . Mom . . . Wait! I'm on a mission!" Xsalice picked up the youngest child and placed her on his back, her arms fell around his neck. He looked up at Arumi and began to speak, "Do you think you can carry their parents?"



Word Count: 329 as of Wordcounter.net
- Total Word Count: 648

Arumi could see the image hit Sal hard. They hadn't talked about his family life much, but she had the feeling there was something personal there. He froze, staring in shock at the scene as though he had seen a ghost. “Sal?” He didn't respond, still staring. Arumi was getting nervous. She could hold this up as long as she had to, but there was a job to do. She could hear and smell other people elsewhere in the tunnel, they couldn't linger too long on the first family. “Sal, we gotta hurry.” Again, no response. It took one of the kids tugging on his pants leg to snap him out of it. She could swear he said something about his mother as he snapped back to reality, but she wasn't quite sure. It was probably something personal, and even if he wanted to talk about it now was not the time.

She nodded at Sal's request. She waited until he lead the kids out from under the slab, then started to shift it slightly. She could tell its size from the sound it made, and there didn't seem to be anyone to the left of it. No human smells from that direction, just dust and debris. Arumi put her back into it, shifting the slab to the side so she could properly pick up the two. It was just a gesture, but these two had died trying to protect their kids. They deserved this much at least. Her upper pair of arms picked up the mother and the lower picked up the father, cradling them one above the other as she carried them to the hole. She couldn't fit through carrying them, so she passed the fallen couple through the gap to the crews outside. With a solemn look on her face, Arumi stood back up to her full height and strode back into the tunnel. “Come on Sal, there's a few more.” She went to the next nearest heartbeat, clearing rubble away in record time. Having four huge, super-strong hands made that a lot easier. It was an old man, injured but alive. He looked like he could be moved. She looked over to Sal. “Get him to the medics, I'll clear some more.” Arumi brushed the dust from her hands and went to get the next one free.

[Words this post: 391, total so far 860]

As Xsalice carried the girl toward the entrance, which was now seen as the exit, his mind kept drifting back to the moment he froze up. "I can't believe I'm still this affected . . . Why . . ." If it weren't for the constant reminder that there were victims that needed his help Xsalice would have been consumed by his thoughts. The oldest children reached the exit first, escaping to the outside, Xsalice swung the girl he carried around so that he was cradling her and proceeded to pass her to her siblings. Unfortunately, she clung around his neck and refused to move. "No no no! Please don't leave us!" Just by the look in her eyes Xsalice could tell that she was frightened beyond all means, but still, he had a job that he needed to complete. "Don't worry, I'll be right back. I need to help any remaining people. Okay? Tears streamed down the little girl's face, but she nodded in compliance and crawled out of the hole and into the arms of her siblings.

Arumi lead the way to the next victim who was an elderly man. "Sir, are you able to walk?" The man simply nodded, but as he walked forward he nearly fell to the ground. Without hesitation Xsalice threw the man's right arm over his shoulders and proceeded to guide him to the exit. "Hey kids!" He called out. "Help this man get threw the exit, he's wounded so be careful." Once the man was threw, Xsalice crawled on out. He winked at the little girl, before placing the elderly man on his back. "I need to get this man to a medic, you guys help as best as you can with anyone else that may come through the hole." With that said Xsalice took off toward Donzokogakure's Medical center, he tried his best to not step too hard so that the elderly man he carried wouldn't bounce and injure his leg further.

Upon making it to within yards of the medical center the elderly man's head dropped onto Xsalice's shoulder. "Come on old man, don't give up on me" Xsalice yelled as he burst through the door of the medical center, surprised face fell over the heads that turned in his direction, but medics rushed over with gurneys and took the man from off of Xsalice. "We need a squad of medics at the Pedestrian Tunnels on the East side of the village, hurry!" Xsalice said as he made his way out the door. He arrived back at the mission site in half the time that it took to reach the medical center, the kids that were previously rescued were still on the outside, but there was no sign of Arumi.

Within seconds after his arrival did the medical squad he requested appeared, they quickly attended to the children and his parents. Xsalice ventured back threw the entrance of the tunnel and on his search to find Arumi. "Arumi!?! Arumi!?! Ugh, this is getting me nowhere!" Xsalice placed his left hand on his right wrist where a seal was, a small amount of chakra was applied and in a puff of smoke a kunai with a different seal appeared. He uttered out "Vibrational". The seal on the kunai illuminated grey as Xsalice applied chakra to it, he dug it into the ground at his feet and instantly vibrational waves were sent out around him. They traveled out throughout the tunnels and upon reaching a location where someone was at bounced back to where Xalice, seemingly acting like echolocation used by bats. He went off in that direction, hopefully it led to Arumi.



Word Count: 605
- Total Word Count: 1253

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Spoiler:

Slowly but surely, Arumi cleared more of the rubble away. It was taking a while. She was frustrated, both from the scene earlier and the predicament she found herself in. They were in the earth village in the elemental nation of earth, couldn't they find any earth release users to help out here? Her wind release had its uses, but in a case like this it was pretty much worthless. Any attempt to clear rubble with it would only smash things, risking another collapse. Even if it didn't, her corrupted chakra would make it harder to breathe and put people in even more danger. It was frustrating, but all she had now was her muscle. She just hoped it would be enough.

It was encouraging to hear Sal taking charge like that. Arumi was a ways off, but her enhanced ears could pick up what he was saying. He was putting the kids to work, and taking the man to the medics. With any luck, he'd come back with more. Arumi was downright furious at how slow emergency services were being. They'd managed to scramble her and Sal well before any medics or other emergency workers were on the scene. Between that and the sudden collapse, she was starting to wonder about the infrastructure in this village. She liked the Donkage and all, but he seemed to have seriously dropped the ball here.

Sal's new burst of leadership had given Arumi an idea. As she dug people out, she started booming out orders. “If you're injured, stay where you are. Medics are on the way. If you can walk all right, we need all the help we can get here. I point out people, you help dig. Anyone with any medical or first aid experience tend to the wounded. Everyone else, with me.” She was nervous as hell, but the Brute jutsu made her sound a lot more forceful and powerful than she felt. She was a very imposing presence in this form. People started moving, some of them breaking off to tend to those with worse injuries. Others fell in behind her, helping her dig. Arumi listened and smelled for more people, pointing them out with her upper arms while her lower arms kept digging. Up ahead, she could hear a pocket of more people, seemingly safe. There was another noise she didn't recognize, so she kept on digging until she broke through. A green light greeted her as she opened up the way. “What the hell?”

[Words this post: 418, total 1278. Mission complete, exiting to Aka's thread]

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